


A Dream Come True

by MeganKeitel



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: 2020 is already a stinky year, Dedicated to my best friend, F/M, hidden identity, i would appreciate someone reading my work though, i wrote it when i was 13, its really bad, not even an AU, rereading this now gives me psychic damage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:08:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 28,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27624509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganKeitel/pseuds/MeganKeitel
Summary: Lauren is a college student in London with her best friend Megan. Lauren meets a cute guy at a local coffee shop and starts to fall in love after one date. But is he who he says he is???
Relationships: Eleanor Calder/Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles/Original Female Character(s), Liam Payne/Original Female Character(s), Niall Horan/Original Female Character(s), Perrie Edwards/Zayn Malik





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this when I was 13 in 2013 and spent about a year and a half on it. I've had it tucked away on my old USB since and recently found it again and decided that I didn't want all my work to go to waste. I've published the same story on Quotev and Wattp. If it wasn't obvious, it IS a self insert featuring my best friend then (and still in 2020), me as her adorkable (cringe) awkward best friend, and another friend that completed our Directioner trio. I know it's awful writing and cannot read more than 10 pages before taking severe psychic damage. I'll be happy if ANYONE reads this on any of the websites. By the way, as a fun side note, I'm a lesbian and figured that out when One Direction broke up and was no longer thinking about the boys all the time. 2020 has been real shit so it's the best time to post something equally garbage. Stay healthy everyone.

A squeal escapes her as she patiently waits for her turn to meet the boys at a One Direction signing. “Megan, calm down,” Lauren says yet again in her calmest voice. “Doing that won’t get you any closer,” Her ears, and she’s pretty sure some of the older people’s ears, are starting to hurt from the screams of excitement coming from all over the room every few short minutes.

The two girls have purposely chose to be towards the end of the line, so when they meet them they would get more time with the boys. “Hey, do you think my hair looks okay?” Megan asks worriedly.

“What!?” It really is quite noisy in there.

“Does my hair look okay!” She repeats.

“It looks fine, but there are a few loose strands in the back,” she says as she fixes Megan’s hair. “Okay, now if you would only leave it alone. Wait, does my makeup look okay?” She questions.

“It looks perfect, even though I don’t know why you’re asking my opinion, I never wear any makeup.” Lauren just rolls her eyes at the older girl.

They have been like sisters since the first grade. Lauren is 18 and will turn 19 in February; Megan is 19 and will turn 20 in September. They are both in college studying at London University. Right now, it’s the cold winter month of December the 13th to be specific. And they are on holiday, so they don’t have school for a couple of weeks.

After about four surprisingly quick hours of step-by-step, bit-by-bit moving closer to them, they finally get to the landing platform where One Direction is signing countless albums, smiling at the fans and laughing at what one says every so often. Lauren goes up the short flight of stairs first, then Megan follows closely behind her, gripping the railing tightly to keep herself up on her own legs which were shaking so bad she grips the railing even tighter.

They could smell the pungent odor of the sharpies and hear the chatter between the boys and the fans, with the

“Hello,” Lauren says cheerfully to Liam, he is first to meet in the line.

“Hello,” he answers back. He gives Lauren a quick smile and then signs Lauren’s One Direction purse she hands him.

“Thank you,” Lauren says quietly. She scoots on down the line to Louis, the next boy in line.

Megan takes her place in the endless line of girls. “Hello Mr. Payne,” Megan greets him in a silly formal way, a wide smile plastered on her face. She holds out her hand for a formal handshake. He chuckles, shaking her hand, and then signs her copy of their book. Meanwhile Lauren tells Louis a joke and he laughs at it. He is still laughing when some security guard nudges Lauren in front of the next boy.

When she looks at him she put on the biggest smile ever. “Hello!” Lauren practically screams. Harry smiles politely at her and signs her purse. “I-I’m sorry, my voice isn't usually like that,” she hurriedly apologizes.

“It’s fine. I get that all the time,” he reassures her.

 _YOLO_ , she thinks. “Harry, can I hold your hand?”

Harry’s smile grows and he offers his hand. Lauren reaches out over the table and gently places her hand in his. A massive amount of what felt like electricity zips all throughout her body, shocking her and leaving her motionless. She lets out a gasp, blushes, and then crumples to the floor in the most ungraceful manner.

Megan quickly realizes something has happened to her best friend and kneels over her, trying to sit her up. Heads whip to their direction.

Harry’s face suddenly falls. He stands up and walks around the table but doesn’t know how to help her. He decides to grab her other arm and with Harry’s help they were able to hold her up. By now just about everyone with a view is watching them. Megan senses their stares and her cheeks feel hot. She tries to ignore them and focus on the person who is passed out in her arms.

A few seconds later, she begins to stir and her eyelids flutter open. Megan cautiously lets go of her arm. Harry doesn’t.

Lauren looks up and notices that _Harry Styles_ is holding her arm. Her breaths are unstable and uneven, so Harry holds her arm tighter, worry on his face that she would swoon. Thankfully she doesn’t.

“You okay, love?” he inquires.

She doesn’t answer right away but eventually gasps, “Yeah. I-I’m okay.”

A medic that has been standing by in case of this, comes to usher the two girls out of the way and off to the side. The medic was a youngish woman, they would guess about early thirties, so most likely too old to be a directioner. Her black hair that had been tucked into a tight professional bun that rested right underneath her hat with the

“How do you feel? Are you dizzy? Do you feel as if your going to faint again?” I shake my head rapidly to keep up with her persistent questions. She takes out an auriscope (thing to look in eyes) from an unnoticeable bag and brings the small instrument in front of my left eye, than moves to my right eye, observing the reactions of my pupils to having a bright light being shined on them.

She tests a few more other things before declaring me healthy enough to leave. At least fifteen minutes had passed from when we were first brought away from the signing until we were aloud to leave and left alone. The final few fans got their last signatures and goodbyes to the group and left.

No one seems to notice the two girls standing against the wall as everyone else has a job to do in taking the setup down or packing it up. The boys had gotten up after those fans had left and currently Niall and Louis are laughing in the corner while Liam and Harry are finding things to help pack up and finally Zayn is in the corner parallel from Niall and Louis’s talking on the phone to someone. Paul, they see is going from one boy to the next, carrying things along the way.

Louis suddenly takes off running away from Niall for an unknown reason, but they know its not completely good when they see the smile on those two’s faces, and especially when Niall goes chasing after him. The younger boy follows the trial Louis takes, weaving between people and other objects, leaving a path of unhappy staff. Paul just looks done with it as he jogs after them.

Louis looks behind his shoulder to see how close Niall is when,

“Ah!”

At Lauren’s feet is a mass of clothing wriggling around, tripping over each other as they hurriedly attempt to stand. The commotion had caused work to stop and for the second time that day Lauren and Megan are being stared at. Niall reaches down and plucks Louis off the stunned girl.

“I am so sorry, love. Are you okay? I didn’t see you there,” Louis apologizes. Megan can only nod. Zayn, Liam, Harry, and Paul had made their way over to see the disturbance up close.

Both Niall and Harry ask the now almost frightened girl if she is okay and she replies saying that she is fine.

Megan causally says “hi” to Harry and Niall and freezes when she gets to Zayn. Zayn gave her an encouraging smile and says hi, lifting his hand to wave at her. “He-he-hello,” she finally manages to say. Her mind goes blank after that. Zayn was her favorite.

“Umm… I-I don’t think we-we should be here, so um bye.” Lauren trips over a few of her words.

“Well, I guess bye then,” Liam says and he and Harry walk away from the group. Zayn puts the phone back to his ear and waves the girls goodbye. Followed by Paul.

“Goodbye.” Niall leaves the group leaving Louis with them.

Louis boldly hugs Megan, telling her he’s sorry in her ear. She keeps nodding and Louis gives Lauren a quick hug, then says goodbye.

“Bye!” Lauren and Megan answer back. They find the exit in the colossal brick building.

Once they reach the frigid outdoors they find their sky blue Prius and Lauren almost slips on the slush as she steps in the passenger side of the car. “What just happened?” Megan asks once inside.

“I don’t know,” Lauren replies. They rub their hands together to warm them up and drive away. They go back to their small apartment and are up all night, as they are too hyper after meeting their dream dates.


	2. Chapter 2

“ _Midnight memories!_ ” Megan presses a button on top of the alarm clock, waking her up at her usual time of seven. She has her own room in their smallish humble apartment.

Megan’s room has a country farm appearance, since she dreams of owning her own ranch training horses. Lauren has a music themed room as she hopes to become a well-known singer or musician.

Megan turns off the alarm so it won’t wake Lauren and silently climbs out of bed. She tiptoes to her dresser and silently changes into her normal attire, which consists mostly of fitted T-shirts and dark wash jeans. There are no athletic wear in sight except her dance outfits which are made up of bright dance bras, tight black booty shorts and several pairs of stretchy tights that vary in color, including a pair of black fishnet stockings she wore for a dance competition a few years back.

After she’s done changing she grabs a hoodie from a hook on her wall before proceeding to walk quietly into the living room while checking twitter on her phone. She then continues on to read the newspaper on the sofa. An ad catches her eye. It’s an ad for auditions for the city’s annual musical. This year they are performing Phantom of the Opera. _This sounds like a fun. I could audition to be one of the dancers, and Lauren can try for one of the singers. I’ll ask her when she wakes_ , Megan thinks.

She hears movement behind her and looks over her shoulder to find Lauren standing there. She must have woken early cause she is already dressed.

“Good morning,” Megan says cheerfully and then mumbles, “It’s about time you woke up.”

“I heard that, well good morning to you too.” Lauren is wearing a dark blue dress that went down to her knees that had a black belt around the waist. She had black leggings underneath, black-heeled booties and a black leather jacket on. Her hair is up in a stylish yet messy bun.

“Hey Lauren, there’s an ad in the paper for people to audition for roles in Phantom of the Opera. Hosted by some company. It’s at Royal Albert Hall next Monday at 6 P.M. wanna go?”

“Umm... yeah! Hey, what do you want from Starbucks?” Lauren asks.

“My normal, hot chocolate. Please and thank you.”

“Be back soon!” Lauren calls as she leaves. Megan went to get a book from the bookshelf. She decides to read one of her favorites, Harry Potter. She carefully pulls The Philosophers Stone off the shelf and goes back to the tan sofa. Already reading page one.

Meanwhile Lauren was walking into the lobby. They live on the 13th floor. She walks into the freezing cold and across the busy street to the Starbucks on the other side. It is crowded at this time due to the morning rush.

She got their drinks and is about to leave when her phone rings. She tries to get her phone with one hand while holding the tray the cups are in with the other. Her hand finds the phone but before she can pull it out of her purse, she walks right into somebody, the coffee spilling on them.

“Oh my god! I am so sorry!” She hastily apologizes and bends down to pick up the fallen cups.

“Its fine,” says the man. Lauren freezes. She thinks she recognizes the voice but when she looks up she doesn’t recognize the man even though he is strangely familiar.

She notices the brown hair tucked under a beanie and his eyes are hidden behind dark shades. She could tell he is from here by his accent. She guesses he is in his early 20’s and she thinks he looks cute. She holds out her hand, “Hi, I’m Lauren.”

“Hello, I’m Har-Hadden. I’m Hadden,” he corrects himself. Lauren notices he changed it but doesn’t question him about it. “Here, have mine,” he says offering his coffee.

“No, it’s my fault I lost mine. You keep yours.” Lauren counters.

“No, I insist. My friends say I drink too much coffee anyway.”

“Fine, all right. I’ll take your coffee,” she reluctantly agrees. She takes a sip. It is delicious. The perfect temperature, the cream to coffee ratio is excellent. She can’t help but smile. “What kind is this?” she asks.

“Umm... not sure. I get something different each time.” They stand there awkwardly for a minute and then he asks, “Do you want to take a walk with me? I can tell you’re not from around here. You have an accent.” She thinks for a moment. Should I? I don’t know him much, but he is _so hot_.

“Sure.”

They walk all over the city, talking non-stop. He shows her many places and the sun was directly overhead when Lauren insists that she must go home. She didn’t tell Megan where she was going. He walks her back to the Starbucks, which was far less crowded. “That was fun.” He says simply. He looks down at his feet and then asks, “Do you want my number?”

She looks at him with complete shock but replies, “All right.” He takes out a pen and a piece of scrap paper. He writes down his number and hands it to her.

“Here, call me sometime.”

“Okay.” He gives her one last look, leans in and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek, and then he walks away.

She watches him disappear in the crowd. She stands there she didn’t know how long. When she comes to her senses she briskly walks back to their flat. She opens the door and she only gets to take a few steps and the next thing she know she’s on the ground with Megan climbing off her. “Where have you been!?” Megan exclaims.

Lauren scrambles to her feet, but she doesn’t answer. The shock from the kiss was still on her face. “Lauren, what’s wrong?” No answer. “Lauren! Answer me right now young lady!”

“Nothing, I’m fine,” the reply came in a mumble. Megan studies her face for a moment. Her eyes suddenly grew very big. “No, surely not Lauren.” Megan says softly in disbelief and takes a step back from her.

“What?” she asks looking down at herself trying to see if she had gotten mud or something on her dress.

“You met a boy!” Megan shouts. She runs up to her and shakes her gently saying, “I need details!” She grabs one of Lauren’s hands; dragging her to the couch and making her sit down.

Lauren kicks off her shoes and places Chamber of Secrets aside, and then lies down on her back looking at the ceiling taking up the entire couch so Megan sits on a chair next to it with a pad of paper and a pencil. “Begin.” They both realize how they look and burst out laughing.

“Okay, well- ”

“Pause it! I need food!” Megan shouts and runs to the kitchen to get a bag of chips. Forgetting the pen and paper in the kitchen, she comes back and finds Lauren has sat up, leaving her space to sit down next to her. “Otai, begum,” she says around a mouthful of chips.

“Well, first off he is tall with brown hair tucked under a beanie. He had brilliant green eyes and is so sweet and nice. We walked all around London. He showed me the sights and famous places. And when we got back...” She trails off.

“What? What happened next?” Megan inquires for she is intently listening.

“He gave me his number!” Megan’s eyes got really big.

“Really?”

“Yes!”

“What happened next?”

“He kissed me!”

Silence.

“Where? The lips?”

“Ya, and then we made out in a bathroom.” Lauren says dripping with sarcasm. They explode in hysterics.

“Were they soft?” Megan asks once they calm down.

“Um... yes.” Lauren says while giving Megan a disgusted look. “You’re such a perv, you know that?”

“Ya, I know.” They sat there in complete quiet for what seems like minutes. Megan grabs one of the pillows and attacks Lauren with it, hitting her right in the face. Lauren finds another pillow and returns the assault.


	3. Chapter 3

The sky outside had turned from blue to a rich purple and the wind had become even colder. Thin wisps of clouds barely cover the sun as it set in the west. Lauren is at the old stove cooking up some hamburgers while Megan is in the living room reading The Prisoner of Azkaban (3). “Lauren! When are we gonna eat?” Megan whines.

“When you stop complaining,” she ripostes. Megan sticks her tongue out at her when she turns around. “Supper’s ready!” Lauren announces a little later.

At this Megan quickly leaps into action, setting the table with plates, napkins, and cups. Lauren brings the pan of freshly cooked hamburgers over to the square table and gets buns and toppings.

The smell of the cooking fills the small area with its pleasing aroma. Megan looks eagerly at the plates of food. They sit down in seats facing each other. Holding hands over the viand and say grace. As soon as they lower their hands, Megan simply attacks the food.

She seizes two buns and puts a hamburger on each of them. She adds her toppings and takes a giant bite out of one of them and chews it slowly. Lauren had, however, taken her napkin and placed it gently on her lap. Then she took a bun and carefully selected her piece of meat. “Mmmm. This is so good.” Megan complements.

“That why I cooked it. If you did, we would be eating hard chunks of charcoal.”

“You’re right.” Megan concurred raising her glass of milk, her favorite beverage. After dessert (chocolate cake) they start a game of truth or dare. It is Megan’s turn to ask Lauren. “Truth...or dare,” she says dramatically.

“Truth.”

“Bitch.”

“Fine, dare,” she reluctantly agrees.

“I dare you to call the boy you met earlier,” Megan challenges. She sees fear flash in her eyes.

“Well, I don’t want to disappoint the gentleman,” The reply came, in an alluring tone. She saunters over to the counter where her phone lay, picking it up and typing in his number. She pauses a moment before gently pressing the tip of her finger to the call button.

The phone begins ringing. And ringing. _Don’t pick up_. “Hello?” a manly voice says from the phone. Lauren’s face falls in disappointment and fright.

“Is this Hadden?” It is quiet for a moment and then he responds,

“Yes.”

“This is Lauren, the girl that spilled coffee all over you this morning. Sorry again for running into you.”

“Ya, I remember you,” He says with a sudden cheerfulness. “Did you miss me, babe?” Megan almost burst out laughing but covers her mouth with her hands at the last second to stifle the noise. Lauren’s cheeks grow noticeably red.

She tries to start a conversation, “Did you get the stain out?”

“Ya, I did, but it was stubborn. Hey, Lauren?” His next question catches the girls by surprise. “Why won't you let Megan talk? I know she’s there.” They stare at the phone with amazement and shock. Megan’s hand drops along with her mouth.

Megan shakes off the strange feeling. Her eyebrows furrow to together when she asks, “How did you know I was here?”

“That’s something for me to know and you to find out.” He replies cheekily. On the other end, the boy was smirking. Lauren catches herself wishing he would say something else, just so she can hear more of that husky voice.

Megan sticks her tongue out at the phone. “Really Megan, you still do that?” she complains quite loudly.

“Yes, I know I’m that immature and I’m proud of it!” She answers cheekily, just as loud, a smile playing on her lips.

“Megan, can I talk to Lauren alone for a minute?” Came the voice from the phone. Megan’s smile grows and she forms a heart with her hands as she walks backward out of the room. Once she had her back turned, Lauren responds with her middle finger at the fleeting figure, hoping she didn’t see it.

“Okay, she’s gone.” I inform him.

“Well I was wondering…” he says slowly, “If you would go on a date with me?”

She gasps short and loud, her eyes yet again becoming big that night. She remembers reading an article in a magazine about this thing. She counts to three in her head before responding, like the magazine told her, so she won’t sound too desperate. “Sure, I’d love to.” The words came out of her mouth as a grin forms. She cannot believe this was actually happening.

 _I’m going on a date. I’m going on a date! I haven’t been on a date in years._ “What time should I pick you up tomorrow?” The phone interrupts her thoughts. Her mind goes blank from over excitement and shock.

“How `bout 7?” She offers. Right then you could hear the faint sound of voices behind Hadden’s.

“Perfect. I’ll pick you up at the Starbuck’s where we first met. Bye.” He suspiciously hangs up before she could say anything back. Normally she would be concerned and immediately call him back, but the future date ahead has put her in a dream-like daze. She looks at the clock and honestly thought time could not go fast enough.

She calls to Megan telling her that she can come back in. The door quickly opens, all Lauren sees is a blur of colors as she runs past her and jumps, cannonballing onto the soft couch. “I know. I was listening through the door. Oh, and I like your response when I was walking out. It was very... _immature_ of you.”

Lauren gapes at her. She has no clue how Megan could possibly know that, wait, did she hear Hadden asking me out on a date? “What exactly did you hear?”

“Not much, I couldn’t hear what you were saying very well. All I could clearly pick out was ‘Sure’, ‘time’, ‘7’, and ‘Starbucks’.” Lauren breathes out a sigh of relief. “Why do you ask?” She asks smirking. And just like that doubt starts to swirl across her mind.

“Nothing. No reason.” She says, maybe a little to quickly. Megan tilts her head to the side as if she was thinking.

“Ya know, I think I did hear something else.” Lauren gulps audibly.

“What?” She watches her nervously.

“Just that you were going on a date with him, but I probably heard you incorrectly.” Lauren nods her head quickly. Megan winks at her and that’s when she knew for certain that Megan knows.

They both stifle a growing urge to yawn and look out the window into the pitch-blackness that came at midnight. Lauren slowly starts shuffling towards her door. “I’m going to bed.” She mumbles.

“I second that.”


	4. Chapter 4

He presses the end button on his phone. _I can’t believe she called me!_ He had been pacing the living room debating whether she liked him or not due to not calling yet. He was about to give up hope when his phone buzzed with the incoming call, startling him. He felt slightly nervous when he asked her on a date. When she did say yes, he felt immense relief.

“Hey, who was that?” His flat mate questions, startling him. He had snuck up behind him silently.

“Oh, that? That was no one.”

His friend raises his eyebrows at him.

“Really. I’m going to my room.” He walks past him and across their giant flat to his room and puts a _Do Not Disturb_ sign on his door handle. He walks over to his bed and flings himself on it, laying on his back so he could stare at the ceiling.

 _So, what am I going to do on that date? It’s winter so that rules out a lot of stuff to do._ He ponders it for a while, trying to plan out the perfect date. He walks over to his desk and gets out a pen and paper. After tons of thinking, writing, and coffee he thinks he has planned the perfect romantic date. He wrote it all out on a piece of paper he found laying useless on his desk, which he didn’t use much prior to that night.

The Date Plan

  1. Before I leave I will give Louis a credit card and send him to the mall.
  2. I go to Starbucks at 6:45, so I’d be there 15 minutes early.
  3. While I wait I buy us each a hot chocolate.
  4. When she arrives, we walk to Broadgate Ice where I have booked the arena just for us.
  5. After we ice skate, we will take a ride in a lighted horse drawn carriage to my flat.
  6. Then wing it from there.



He reads it several times and makes some editing on spelling to make sure it is flawless. He carefully folds the paper and puts it on his dresser so he would remember to put it in his pocket. He suddenly notices how tired he feels and without changing, he gets in his bed. His eyes begin to droop and soon he is sleeping soundly.

Harry wakes up to the sound of Niall playing his guitar and he, Liam, and Louis singing a song to try to wake him up, making it up as they went. He pretends he is still sleeping through the entire song, even when Liam was jumping on him. At the end of the song he finally shows that he was awake. _Who wouldn’t after that?_ (A/N Sorry, I wrote this part during my carrot phase.)

“Hey, what’s this?” Louis says as he held up his plan for the date. Harry shoves the covers off him and then tackles him to the ground. Niall goes over and picks up the paper as they struggle to stand. He hands it Liam to read since he can’t very well.

“What’s _The Date Plan_?” Liam asks, as he looks it over. Harry tries snatching it out of his grip, but Liam holds it up higher so he can’t reach it. His idea fails as he forgets that Harry was taller than him, so Harry was still able to grab it easily.

“Harry, are you going on a date? With a girl?” Everyone turns to look at Louis.

“No, I’m gay” Harry says with lots of sarcasm. They all turned to stare at Harry, waiting for an explanation of the paper. “Okay, since I know you won’t leave me alone till I tell you, and I don’t want suffer, so here goes.” He thinks for a moment how he is going to start.

“Well, um, you know how I came home yesterday and had coffee spilled all over me. Well, it wasn’t a careless policeman who burnt his tongue. It was a girl. She was so pretty, and I think she didn’t recognize me, so I offered her my coffee and with some reluctance she took it. Then I noticed that she had an American accent, and so I took her on a walk around London so she would know her way around better. An-”

Niall holds up his finger indicating to pause the narration and he runs out of the room. He returns a couple minutes later with the biggest bowl they have filled with cereal.

“And, um, okay, during that walk I felt as though we had connected, you know? So when we got back I gave her my number. Later that night she called me, I was about to ask her on a date when I heard giggling in the background and realized that her friend, Megan, must be there hearing all this so I asked her if she would leave, politely though. I asked her if she would go on a date with me. She said yes and that was it.”

The other boys were staring dumbstruck at Harry’s story. They just couldn’t believe he picked up a girl, especially if she didn’t know who he really was. All of them stand there in silence for a while; the only noise to be heard was the furnace.

They hear crunching and all turn to Niall, who was noisily eating his Fruit Loops. He looks up and stops’ chewing when he realizes everyone is staring at him. He walks out of the room to the kitchen to avoid the awkwardness. Liam follows him saying, “I’ll go watch him, to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself and that you still have food.”

After he left Louis’s phone starts vibrating. He gives Harry a sympathetic glance and mouths _Eleanor_ and leaves, leaving Harry in his room by himself. His nerves start up and he finds himself pacing the room, even though the date is hours away. He starts playing video games to distract himself.


	5. Chapter 5

Lauren had finished her breakfast (bagel with cream cheese) and is already getting ready for her date later in the day. “You know, you still have, like, nine hours.” Megan is with her in her room, bored and unwilling, she is not into clothes or fashion at all.

Lauren digs through her clothes, choosing one, examining it and then putting it back when she decides not to wear it for some pathetic reason. “Why don’t you calm down in the shower,” Megan suggests rolling her eyes at her friend’s frantic behavior. She looks at Megan, her eyes widening. Without saying anything, and half nude, she runs to the bathroom and turns the shower on.

Harry is looking through his flat mate’s closet when the room’s owner comes in. “What are you doing?” Louis wonders out loud.

“I’m trying to find something to wear on my date. My stuff’s not good enough…” He says, not even glancing at him.

Louis looks at him with excitement. “You have come to right place, sir! I have a wide selection of nearly anything. I’m am sure my mastery fashion skills can find you something. And, well, since I know what’s going to happen on that date I suggest wearing this.” And he pulls out a royal blue silk shirt and some nice _clean_ dark jeans and hands them to Harry to try on.

Once he’s changed, Louis has him turn around and do crazy and pointless things, like pirouettes, “for fitting purposes” he’d say when Harry would call him out. “Okay, now try on this,” The older boy says while holding out a black blazer. Harry takes it and tries it on. It just barely fits him. “I think you look perfect,” Louis comments, looking him up and down.

“Really? Are you sure? I don’t want to look like a idiot on our first real date.”

Louis looks him over. “Well, you’ve gone with a dark blue shirt with some nice jeans...” Harry looks up at a bug circling his head for a second and Louis takes advantage of that moment. He swiftly brings his hand down _hard_ , right between the legs. “That’s what I’m talking about.” Harry keels over; his hands cover the sore area. They both stand upright laughing so hard they can’t breathe.

Lauren turns the knob to stop the flow of water. She steps out of the slippery shower/bath and reaches for a towel. She dries herself off and then leaves the towel on the floor as she combs her blonde hair and then blow-dries and straightens it until she has it where she wants it. She picks the towel up off the floor and wraps it around herself, tucking in the corner.

She walks out of the steamy bathroom to her room where Megan had apparently chosen her outfit. Lauren examines the clothes, making some remarks, but her overall thought on it is, “This and this don’t go together, and I don’t know what we are doing on the date so I have to be prepared for anything. You _fail_ when it comes to fashion.” She goes over to her dresser and pulls out a pink blouse and a pair of Miss Me Jeans. Then going over to her closet and getting out a white pea coat. “I’ll wear this on my date.”

After Harry and Louis calm down, Harry wants to start on his hair. “Why don’t you leave it like that and wear it like you normally do?” Louis protests against Harry’s requests. Harry had said he could leave earlier, but Louis had immediately denied.

“Because I don’t want to look like an idiot on a first date.” He mumbles as he tries out different hairdos. Harry tries everything, each look being encourage by a disgruntled Tomlinson. His hair gets brushed, pulled, combed, wetted, curled, straightened, and he is covered in hairspray. They even try putting his hair in a quiff-like style. But none qualify by Harry’s standards. By then it’s 5 o’clock and Harry is starting to worry.

Lauren is sitting on her white vanity while Megan does her makeup. Since Lauren wasn’t going to wear anything colorful, her makeup was going to be blacks and whites. With Megan’s approval, they agree on having black to white shadow effect, and then having small hardly noticeable wings that overall had a good influence on the appearance. Once she is finished she adds tiny sparkles over the whole thing. “Wow Megan, you are amazing.” Lauren exclaims as she looks at the finished product.

“Thanks, now I’m going to let you put on the mascara.” She hands the tube to her.

As Harry is getting really anxious in front of the mirror, Louis is chilling on the couch. “Just leave it like it is. You want her to recognize you.” Harry is still going on about his hair. “Just go, leave it. But first...” Louis stands up and walks over to him. He then squirts some of his cologne on him, Eleanor has told him how she likes it when he wears it, so he thought it might improve his chances slightly. “Knock ’em dead.” Louis says, giving him a playful and encouraging shove towards the door.

Lauren already knows exactly how she wants her hair. She works on it for an hour, while making Megan stand outside her room. Once she finishes she comes out to show Megan. She has skillfully styled her blonde hair into a tight French braid. “You look beautiful. Now go, you don’t want to be late.” Lauren opens her arms and gives Megan a quick hug, and then starts walking out the door, waving as she crosses over the doorway. Megan hesitates, undecided. “Wait for me!” She runs to catch up. Lauren stops at hearing her voice and turns her head sharply to look wonderingly at her. “I’ll walk you out.” The curly haired one states. She looks Lauren up and down and Lauren notices.

“What?”

“I just feel like a mom, or I guess older sister, when her younger sister is going to prom or something like that, only a lot less emotions.” Lauren gives her a playful elbow shove. By then they were in the lobby. “Now remember, behave and I better not become _Aunt_ Megan tonight.” Lauren rolls her eyes at her forwardness.

“Whatever, _mom_.” She turns around and leaves Megan standing in the lobby watching the door close behind her friend, wondering when she is going to find someone.

Harry is already there, waiting by the door holding two cups that have steam coming from a small hole in the top. As I walk closer to him I can smell coffee in the cups. “Wow, you look so gorgeous and I mean it.”

“You don’t look that bad yourself.” He hands her one of the cups and she cautiously takes a sip from it. It’s coffee with whipped cream stirred in. “Well I’m here. So what are we going to do?” she thinks out loud.

“Well, first, we take a walk.” They start walking down the crowded street together, talking and laughing a lot.

They walk only a short distance before they reach a giant ice arena, which is covered with a number of Christmas decorations and giant snowflakes. “Merry Christmas, Lauren.” Harry whispers in her ear.

Harry guides her down to a stand where they get ice skates. Harry helps Lauren get her skates on and tie them up tight. While she was waiting for Harry to get his on, she notices there are no skaters on the ice. “Are we the only people here?” She asks him.

Without looking up he answers, “Yea, I was able to book the whole arena to us.” He finishes tying his skates and waddles over to her. He looks at her nervously. “Ready?” He questions her. She nods.

Harry opens the gate and very carefully steps out on the ice. He quickly goes to the side and holds tightly to the railing, making it obvious he doesn’t skate. Keeping one hand firmly on the railing, he offers his hand to help Lauren on the ice. She takes his hand and steps on next to him. She almost slips but Harry keeps her upright. “Thanks,” she mumbles blushing.

Christmas music starts playing out the speakers and they slowly start making their way around the outside of the arena. After completing several laps, Lauren gets confident enough to venture away from the railing towards the middle. Harry turns around and notices she isn’t there. He spots her halfway to the middle. “Wait for me!” He hollers after her. He is able to take a few steps before he falls flat on his bum. Lauren turns around to see him lying on his back, laughing at the sky. She shuffles over to him and lay down beside him.

“What a beautiful night,” Lauren comments.

“Ya, beautiful... and cold.” Harry adds as a freezing wind comes over them.

“Moving will help warm us up.” Lauren says as she struggles to stand. She gets up and offers to help Harry.

He grabs her hand pulling her back down. He quickly stands up and races off to the other end. “Race you!” He challenges over his shoulder. She manages to stand up and hurries after him. Because of his head start Harry won, but Lauren was right behind him.

A romantic song comes over the speakers and the two of them share a look. “May I have this dance, madam?” Harry asks, bending over as far as he dared, holding out his hand for her. She fuses their hands together.

“You may, kind sir.”

They slowly make their way to the middle, where they join both hands and sway rhythmically in a circle, humming along to the music. Somewhere near the middle of the song Lauren shivers. Harry notices and presses her against his warm chest. She wraps her arms around him, like a hug, and buries her head under his chin.

Harry let out a sigh. “What is it?” Lauren asks him kindly.

“This is just too perfect, I never want it to end.”

Lauren pulls back slightly so she can look at him. “That was the most expected and romantic thing someone's ever said to me.” Harry puts on that very cheeky grin of his. By then it was completely dark, but the London lights illuminated the city brightly. Harry checks his watch.

“Wow! It’s 9:30 already?” He exclaims.

Lauren gives him questioning look. “I guess time does flies by when you’re having fun.” He takes her hand and starts dragging her. Lauren finds her balance and just lets him pull her. They get off the ice and take off their skates.

“Where to now?” Lauren asks as they step on the not-so-busy sidewalk. As if that was the answer he just turns and leaves. She is able to catch up easily. “Well?” She asks again. He just gives a mischievous look coupled with a small smile, but doesn’t say anything.

They walk only a couple of blocks when Harry stops in front of a horse drawn carriage. Christmas lights decorating it and outlining its frame in small bright dots. “Oh, Hadden!” Lauren says in happiness.

“You can go first,” He offers trying to be a gentleman.

“Thank you,” Is her reply. They get on and sit down in the seat. It’s a bit small so Lauren has to lean into him, and Harry, being bold, puts his arm around her shoulder. To both of their surprise, it isn’t awkward at all. It instead feels… _right_ , which was a new feeling for Lauren.

Harry stands up and whispers in the driver’s ear. Lauren has no idea what he is saying but she isn't really listening. Harry sits back down and they cuddle again. They sit there in each other’s arms until the carriage stops.

They get out and as Harry was paying, Lauren goes to the front to pet the horses. Harry comes to the front and gives each horse a pat before the horses almost trample him as they are taking off. He steps out of the way at the last second. The driver yells his sorry as he pulls away from the curb.


	6. Chapter 6

Lauren looks up at the sign over the building. It’s an apartment building. “Why are we here?” she asks him with a confused look.

“This is where I live.” And they walk inside from the cold.

“Do you have any roommates?”

At this Harry stiffens. He quickly pulls out his phone and texts someone. They climb in a lift and Harry is texted back. He puts his phone back in his pocket but he still looked worried. The elevator stops and they step out into a hallway. Lauran notices that they got out on the 23rd floor, the top floor. “You live on the highest floor?” Harry answers with pride,

“Yes, I do.”

The hallway goes straight for a while and then suddenly veers to the right. Around the corner, they hear a door open and close again. They hear footsteps coming towards them and Harry flinches, but Lauren doesn’t notice. A boy turns the corner and Lauren freezes with complete shock. “Oh. My. God.” Lauren never takes her eyes off the boy. The stranger stops right in front of them. He is wearing a white T-shirt with A British flag on it, and tight black jeans. Harry tries not to make eye contact by looking at anything else. Lauren finds her voice and says, “H-Hi, Louis.”

“Hello, Lau-ove,” Louis hopes he caught himself in time for her not to notice he almost said her name. Thankfully she didn’t.

“Can I have your autograph?” Instead Louis goes and stands by her, striking a pose. Lauren realizes what he is doing and hurries to find her phone. Right before she takes the picture, Louis turns his head to give her a kiss on the cheek. The picture clearly shows the surprise on Lauren’s face.

Harry just stood off to the side, quietly whistling ‘I Want’. Lauren recognizes the tune and thought it was strange for a boy to know it, but doesn’t say anything. “How are you, Louis?” Lauren asks.

He thinks for a moment, “I’m great actually. You?”

“I couldn’t be happier. I’m on a date with this charming guy...” She nudges Harry. “And I have met Louis Tomlinson of One Direction!” It’s obvious she is fangirling.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you.” Louis states.

Lauren becomes very red. She gets out of his way and he continues on and gets in the lift. Lauren looks at Harry with extreme excitement. “Do you realize who that was!?” Lauren squeals at him.

“Ya, he’s Lewis Tumbleson of One Dimension,” He scoffs.

“It’s _Louis Tomlinson_ of _One Direction_.” She corrects him. They start walking again. “Then there’s also Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, and Harry Styles! Honestly, I think Harry’s the sexiest.”

Harry looks at her with shock, then smirks triumphantly, but continues walking. They didn’t talk until they got to the flat. “Wait...” Lauren whispers in disbelief. “If that was Louis, and he was here, that means he probably lives here, and you live here...” She looks at him with pure joy. “YOU LIVE NEXT TO LOUIS FUCKING TOMLINSON!” Harry rolls his eyes again.

He gets out his keys and opens the door. Lauren steps in his flat and looks around in awe. It was big and spacious, with golden colored walls and a white ceiling. Harry turns to her. “Would you like an exclusive tour?” He says in a posh accent, offering his arm like they’re going to a royal ball.

Lauren raises her eyebrows in amusement. She links her arm in his. “That would be delightful.” Still pretending they were at a ball, he shows her around the house.

“You live in a mansion!” Lauren exclaims when they finish. Harry smiles at the ground. “Can I have something to eat? I’m hungry.”

Harry takes her hand and together they walk to the kitchen. Their hands drop when Harry immediately goes over to the fridge and starts getting stuff out. Lauren just stands there, trying to figure out what he was doing. She notices that the beef and the taco shells were out. “We’re having tacos?”

Harry just flashes a mischievous smile. He gets a pan out and places a large chunk of beef on the pan as it was heating up.

Lauren goes over to stand next to him. “Is there anything I can do?”

He hands her a tomato. “You can start dicing this tomato.” She goes over to the butcher block (knife holder stand thing) and pulls out a reasonable sized knife. She scans the room looking for something. She walks over to the nearest cupboard, opens it, scans it, and then closes it. She opens the cupboard next to it, looks through that one, and then shuts the door.

Harry just watches her, not saying anything. She searches through two more cupboards before Harry says anything. “Ya know, I think what you’re looking for is in that one.” He pointed a cabinet across the room.

“Oh, so now you tell me.” She closes the door she was searching and walks over to the door he indicated. She opens it, moves some stuff around, and pulls out what she has been looking for. She places the cutting board on the counter and began chopping the tomato.

By then the meat has begun turning brown and Harry has torn it to pieces. They work quickly, careful not to get in the others way.

In about half an hour it was ready. They put the pan right on the table with small colorful bowls containing cheese, tomatoes, and lettuce surrounding it. They sit down and each make a taco with the food they made themselves.

With a mouth full of taco, Harry manages to say, “Let’s play 20 questions.” Lauren just nods her head, not wanting to talk with a mouthful of food. During the game they learn each other’s favorites and other random stuff.

They finish their dinner and cleaned up the dishes. Harry puts the last plate away and turns to face Lauren. Lauren walks out of the kitchen, with Harry trailing behind her, and puts her coat on. She waves at Harry yelling, “Bye!” and starts going towards the door.

Harry had just stood there with a confused look, but when she began to open the door he screams, “WAIT!”

She spins around to face him; this time she had the confused look. Harry is holding onto her arm.

“Where are you going?”

Her face changes to look even more baffled. “Aren’t I supposed to go after we finish our supper?”

Harry smiles at her and shakes his head. “No love, unless this was a terrible date.“ His face turned serious. “It wasn’t right?”

Lauren blushes, “No, it’s been a fun date.” Harry moves so he was behind her. Lauren could feel him grabbing the back of the coat and pull it off her. She turns around to find Harry inches from her. Lauren blushes again, taking a step back. “What are we going to do now then?” She asked quietly.

“Why don’t we...” He began. It was silent as they ponder over something they could do.

“I have an idea.” Lauren says slowly, still thinking it out. “There’s this game my parents would play with me and my little brother. We would write characters, like an old woman, a fireman, or a wild cat, on slips of paper and then fold the paper in half and put it a bowl. Then we’d do the same thing only a place, like a cave by the sea, a haunted house, an amusement park, and put those in a different bowl. Then we do that for a situation the character gets in. We’d draw a character, place, and situation and then take turns acting it out.” She finishes; worried that it was a bad idea.

Harry grins at her saying, “So, charades?”

“Yeah, charades.”

They get everything setup and Lauren goes first to demonstrate how it’s done. She picks a piece of paper from each bowl and thinks for a moment. She disappears into the bathroom and comes out holding a plunger. Now that she has her prop she starts “acting”.

Lauren closes her eyes and grabs the end of the plunger and starts jumping like she’s in space, while swinging the plunger in front of her. Harry gets into a position to make him look like he’s deep in concentration. Lauren suddenly drops the plunger and her hands fly to her mouth as she over dramatize getting a toothache.

Harry guessed right away, “You’re a Martian in space that is under attack!” Lauren stops to shake her head and then continues.

They continue drawing scenes from the bowls and acting them out until the bowls got empty. They had lots of fun acting out their roles.

They were putting the stuff away when Lauren’s phone went off. She picks it up and looks at the message with a disappointed frown. “It’s Megan. I need to go. I swear she acts like my mother sometimes.”

She heads towards the door, pulls on her coat, and walks right up to Harry. Looking in his eyes she murmurs, “Well, I had a fun time a-and maybe we could do this again? Only maybe at my place.” A shy smile creeps up her face.

Harry grins and leans forward. Lauren panics and at the last second turns her head so he kisses her cheek. Harry pulls away quickly, embarrassed. He instantly feels bad. Without a word, Lauren rushes out the door.


	7. Chapter 7

Lauren steps inside from the cold. She easily warms up during the long trip up the stairs. She stands in front of her door as she tries to find her keys. Before she could unlock the door, it burst open. Megan was standing there in a tank top and Bermudas despite the chill outside. She leaves the door open and walks back to the couch and picks up her book and starts reading it again, allowing her surroundings to fade so she only sees and hears what’s going on in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (4). After allowing herself in and taking her coat off, Lauren sits down next to her and turns the TV on.

***~***

Megan slams the cover of the book shut and with a pleased expression. “I have finished number four!” And she held the book above her head. Lauren had not even glanced away from the screen, as this was a normal occurrence. They both try to stifle the growing urge to yawn, but fail. Lauren turns the TV off and they both stand up at the same time.

“Goodnight!” They call to each other in unison. Without knowing it, they both giggled too.

Megan shuts the door behind her and turns the lights off, leaving the touch lamp beside her bed on low. The room seems dark at first but as she changes into her nightgown her eyes adjust to it. Her phone glows brighter when she plugged it into the charger. She browses through her playlists and chose Ed Sheeran’s _+_ , letting his gently voice calm down her mind. Climbing under the covers, she falls into a dreamless slumber.

Lauren has changed into her pajamas and was closing the door of her dresser when her phone buzzes. She saw that it’s Hadden.

 **Hadden:** Hey whatcha doin?

 **Lauren:** About to go to bed u?

 **Hadden:** Same

 **Lauren:** Then night!

 **Hadden:** Goodnight

Lauren sets her phone down before crawling under the covers and falling asleep, thinking about Hadden.

***~***

Lauren wakes up to a bad smell. She wrinkles her nose in disgust and then realizes what the smell is. Pure horror is on her face as she sprints out her door, across the living room, to the kitchen. By the smell she thought the house was burning down, but it was just Megan. She had pancakes cooking on a pan and she had tried to heat up syrup in the microwave while it was still in its plastic bottle.

“What the hell happened?” she asks as she takes the half melted bottle out.

“Well, I-I tried making pancakes an-and, I’m sorry!” By then her eyes had become watery.

Lauren walks over to her, “Why are you crying?”

“Because I’m such a terrible cook!” Something you need to know about Megan is that she can be _very_ dramatic at times.

Lauren gives her a sympathetic glance, “You’re not terrible, well maybe you are...” That receives a playful punch in the arm. “But you just aren’t a naturally good chef. C’mon, you can’t be good at _everything_.” Lauren stands Megan up and wraps her in a hug. That calms her down immediately.

Lauren continues to clean up the mess, texting Harry every so often. Eventually the kitchen was back the way it was except the bad smell lingered.

“How bout we go out for breakfast?” Megan suggests, the “incident” still fresh in her mind. Lauren shrugs, “Sure. Where do you want to go?”

Megan knew the answer immediately, causing a smile to appear. “Why did I even ask?” Lauren groans. They change and gather their stuff and make sure to lock the door behind them.

They climb in their car and drive through the heavy traffic. To pass the time they start singing loudly and blast the radio whenever One Direction or any other of their favorite artists came on.

Soon they pull up to the place and park in a spot they were extremely lucky to get.

The sign over the door is dark red, blue, and little bit of white that might be bird poo, and reads, _The Breakfast Club_. Megan hurries out of the car and races in the small cafe, happy to finally come back here. Lauren chuckles at her excitement, comparing it to one of a little kid.

The small bells above the door rings when they walk in. They look around, taking in all the American/British trinkets that clutter the shelves around the room.

“Hello?” Someone calls from the back room. A girl around their age emerges from behind the counter, focused on drying the glass in her hand with a slightly stained towel. She looks up for a moment then does a double take when she sees whom it is.

“Lauren? Megan? Is it really you?” Her face lights up with hope. They both nod. She squeals with excitement and runs over to give them a hug. She finally lets go and they all take in a deep breath.

“Sorry we haven’t come to see you in a while. We’ve recently moved into a bigger flat, but it’s towards the other end of the city,” Megan explains with a sad look.

The girl’s chuffed expression never falters. “It’s okay. I’m just glad I get to see you again. Please take a seat anywhere, I don’t get much business right now anyway,” she adds, gesturing to the empty tables scattered around the small cafe. They sit down at the nearest one.

“So April, how have you been?”


	8. Chapter 8

**(*Right after Lauren left Harry’s flat*)**

Harry stares at the door, his head trying to figure out what had just happened. He frowns when a wave of something that felt like a mix between sadness and loneliness washes over him. He realizes that he has been holding his breath and let out a loud sigh.

He slowly trudges to his room and threw himself on his bed so he was lying on his stomach. He laid there, processing what had happened on the date, trying to figure out what he did wrong. Eventually he closes his eyes and falls asleep.

He wakes up to something heavy landing on the bed. He sits up quickly and looks around to find Louis on his back at the end of his bed, a simper surfaced on his face. Harry lets out a groan of annoyance.

“Louis! Leave me alone.” Ignoring him, Louis crawls towards him a few feet,

“What if I don’t want to?”

In one fluid motion Harry turns and pushes Louis as hard as he could. Louis lands on the floor with a loud thud. The boys break out in booming laughs that left them gasping for air.

“I’m going to go make breakfast,” Harry announces once they had successfully got their breath back. He changes into different clothes since the ones he slept in were starting to get uncomfortable. He goes to the kitchen and decides to make scrambled eggs. Once he had the eggs cooking in the pan, Louis came in, smelling the sizzling food.

Harry glances at him saying, “You can start making the toast.” And he went back to watching the eggs. In a little under 30 minutes breakfast was ready. They scarfed down the food in less than 20. Once finished, Harry went to take a shower, leaving Louis with the dirty dishes.

Harry finishes his shower and has changed into his clothes again when his phone buzzed.

 **Lauren:** Hey are you doing anything tonight?

 **Harry:** Nothing much why?

 **Lauren:** Well i was wondering if we could have that date at my house tonight?

 **Harry:** no

 **Lauren:** Why!? :’(

 **Harry:** jk! what time?

 **Lauren:** idc 6?

 **Harry:** kk cant wait :D

Harry smiles and then went back downstairs to find Louis sitting on the couch watching TV while the dishes were exactly where he left them. He sighs and puts the dishes in the dishwasher himself, and then sits down to watch whatever show Louis was watching.

They watch some boring reality shows but they decide to play video games instead. After a few very competitive hours of Mario Kart, Louis turns the TV off saying, “Come on, Harry, let’s go to Zayn’s house. He texted me saying the other boys are there.” Harry nods and they went to pull on their coats.

The roads were a little slippery, but Louis manages to get them to their destination in one piece.

They pull up in front of Zayn’s house (mansion) and Louis walks right into the house, since it’s Zayn’s fault he left the door unlocked.

Louis turns around in the entryway and gave Harry a mischievous grin while holding a finger to his lips, indicating to be quiet. They tip toe down the hall into the kitchen at the end of it.

Louis, being in the lead, looks around for evidence of anyone in close proximity of them. He then crouches down and did a somersault to the other side of the kitchen, passing the sliding glass door that lead to the backyard.

Louis peaks out at the small group all facing away from them doing something several yards away. He motions for Harry to come stand next to him.

While Louis was scouting the area, planning a way to get out of the house and over to the ‘victims’ without being noticed, Harry has taken the time to thoroughly look about the kitchen. He spots the cupboards above the counter and an idea came him.

He whispers his idea to Louis and then, together, they went over the cupboards, making as little noise as possible. Louis opens one of them and takes down two tall cups.

Harry was about to do the same when the bright red coloring of a plastic bucket caught his attention. He instead walks over to it and held it up for Louis to see.

He nods his approval and then walks over to the sink and fills and cups and the bucket with freezing cold water. Once filled, the two boys silently slide the door open, causing a rush of cool air come in.

They walk out onto the back deck and then continue onto the lawn, trying not to spill water nor alert the others. They creep across the yard and then they each moved around so they were behind someone. Louis was behind Niall and Liam, while Harry had the bucket ready behind Zayn.

The unexpecting group was apparently sharing stories about pudding. Liam was sharing a tale about how one time his family was eating pudding at a picnic and they only had spoons. “So then instead, I tried using a- OH MY GOD!”

Niall- “AHHH! SHIT!”

Zayn- “WHAT THE FUCK!?”

By the time the boys have fully acknowledged that, they have wet hair that drips water on their shoulders every few seconds. Harry is doubled over in laughter and Louis is rolling around on the ground.

Zayn, Niall, and Liam all stand up about the same time. Liam had an angry expression but it was easy to tell that he was at least smiling inside. Niall bends down and shakes his head, causing droplets to go flying away from him. Zayn has done nothing. He has just sat there with wide eyes, figuring out what he should feel.

Harry casts a nervous glance at him, and then at Louis, and then back to Zayn. Everyone was still, watching and anticipating what Zayn would do.

Niall walks over to Harry, his face serious, and put a hand on his shoulder. “It was nice knowing you buddy.” He walks away right as Zayn stood up.

He walks around his chair so he’s facing Harry without anything in between them. “You’re screwed, Styles,” Zayn mumbles just barely loud enough for all of them to hear. Liam chuckles nervously, his eyes darting back and forth from Harry to Zayn.

Before anyone could do anything, Zayn charges at Harry. The others could hear Harry grunt as Zayn collides with him followed by a thud. The two boys wrestle around on the ground, but try not to hurt each other too bad.

After a few minutes they part from each other, breathing slightly heavier than normal.

There was awkward silence for a moment, and then they heard the distant tolling of Big Ben, signaling its 5:00 PM.

Harry’s eyes grew in realization. He then turns around and starts running towards the house calling, “Louis! To the car! Now!” Louis shrugs his shoulders before jogging after him. Harry got to the car first and then was impatiently waiting for Louis. Louis arrives a few seconds later and turns the car on. “Go! Go! Go! Back to our house!” Harry barks.

The car ride seems like hours to Harry when in reality it was only about ten minutes. Once they got there, Harry jumps out of the car before it stopped moving. They race up to their apartment.

Harry immediately starts freaking out and couldn’t decide what to do or where to go first. Louis calmly went up to Harry and grabs his shoulders a little roughly, keeping him still and silent. Louis, very calmly but demanding, asks, “What is this all about? Tell me.”

Sighing in defeat, Harry tells him about the date. Afterward, he sighs again, this time in relief.

Together they used the next half hour to forty-five minutes to get him ready. All dressed and all set to go, Harry reaches into his pocket to pulls out his phone. He finds Lauren’s contact and tries to call her. She picks up after a few rings. “Hey...err...I’m ready so...err...you want to come pick me up?”

“Ya, sure. See you in a few!” And she hung up.

Harry nervously runs his hand through his hair, before he starts pacing. Louis was fed up with Harry’s teenagerish nerves, so he rolls his eyes at his him, even though he knows Harry didn’t see it. Then he walks to his bedroom so he can call Eleanor and say goodnight in privacy.

Then the doorbell rang. Harry jumps, startled, and walks over to the door in a couple of big strides. He opens the door to see Lauren, not completely dressed up, but not in everyday clothes. Harry smiles relieved that his wait was over. “Well, uh, shall we go?” Lauren inquires.

Harry just nods still stunned at how beautiful she looks. They got into her car and rode to her house. They didn’t suspect what was going to happen.


	9. Chapter 9

Lauren drove her car carefully through the busy streets and finds a good parking spot outside her building. They walk into the lobby and up the stairs to her door and into their empty place. Megan had already left for her horse-riding lesson outside the city, so she’s always gone for at least five hours, spending half of it with a horse.

Lauren and Harry (Hadden) had taken off their coats and hung them up, and is now in Lauren’s room, Harry sitting on the edge of Lauren’s bed while Lauren leans against the wall, trying to figure out what to do.

“How bout we...” Lauren began.

“Get some food?” Harry finishes.

Lauren shrugs, “Sure.” They walk out of the bedroom, across the living room, and into the kitchen. “Hungry for anything in particular?” Lauren asks.

“Hmm... Not really. I’m sure if we look around, we’d find something.”

Lauren walks over to their fridge and tugs on the door, opening it. She does something in between a gasp and a sigh of annoyance. “What is it?” Harry wonders out loud.

Lauren ignores his question. “That bitch!”

Harry became louder, coming over to stand behind her. “What? Who?” Lauren turns to face him, clearly annoyed.

“Before she left, Megan had eaten the majority of what was left in the fridge, and we have mostly snacks and cooking stuff in our cupboards. We were going to go grocery shopping first thing tomorrow morning. I guess we have to go out to eat. Is that okay with you?”

Harry nods. They put their coats back on, and together they head out where it was beginning to get dark. Unsure of where to go, they agree on exploring, hoping to stumble upon a place.

***~***

By now night has fallen and it’s getting harder and harder for them to see. They were walking for about 30 minutes, but nothing had seemed like a good place to eat at. Lauren pulls her coat tighter around herself, Harry had already offered his coat, but she kindly refused. They keep walking, when they turned a corner, and they both realize that they are lost.

“Umm... Do you know where we are?” Harry asks, attempting to sound calm. They were on a side street and there were only a few people around. And those people seemed wasted. Lauren looks around.

“No. Let’s go this way,” she says, tugging on Harry’s arm to go left.

It had only been a few minutes when they heard voices behind them. The voices were whispering, so you could only know that they are there, but not what they are saying.

Harry and Lauren walked slightly faster, hoping to come across something that would tell them where they are or someway to escape the voices, which were getting louder.

Then when they sounded right behind them, they stop. This made the couple even more frantic. Lauren feels a hand on her shoulder, turning her around. She could see that someone’s hand was on Harry’s shoulder, and he looks scared.

The people behind them were two muscular girls who look pissed. One had blonde hair while the other had black. “Who are you?” The black haired one asks. Before she could answer, they turn to Harry.

“What are you doing here, cutie?” Blondie asks with an immediate change of tone. She sounds like a desperate slut. She even had taken a step closer to Harry.

Thinking quickly, Harry put his arm protectively in front of Lauren, then put himself in front of her. Harry didn’t answer her question.

Looking furious, the two girls strode forward and grab the two of them. They are a lot stronger than they look. With their hands being held tightly behind their backs, Blondie pulls two pieces of rope out of her pocket. Knowing what they were going to be used for, Lauren starts yelling as loud as she can.

“Shut up!” Black Beauty screeches over Lauren’s attempts. Lauren quiets down, but not before she let out a whimper.

Everything was silent for a moment, and then the girls gave each other a look. By now Harry and Lauren have had their hands tied behind their backs. Blondie takes a hold of Harry’s tied wrists and drags him into a nearby alleyway.

Lauren couldn’t see what was happening but knew it wasn’t anything good. It was ominously quiet until a few minutes later when Harry starts yelling in protest to something Blondie was doing to him.

Some protective feeling comes over Lauren and without thinking she knees Black Beauty in the stomach. She doubles over in pain. Outraged, Black Beauty punches Lauren in the jaw, which was sure to leave a big bruise. Lauren was thankful that she signed up for kickboxing when she was younger. The two girls fight for several minutes, leaving marks all over each other’s bodies.

“Hey!” Blondie screams as she rounds the corner. She ran to help Black Beauty. Now with Blondie, Lauren was hopelessly out numbered. Everything was happening too fast for Lauren to figure out what to do. Next thing she knew, she was on the ground lying on her side as the she gets kicked over and over again.

Once Lauren thought she was going to pass out, the kicking stops. She hears struggling next to her, but her body screams in protest when she moved. Then she heard two sets of feet running away from them.

Soon it was quiet again except for someone’s heavy breathing above her. The rope fell away from her wrist freeing her arms. She feels two strong arms wrap around her shoulders and under her knees lifting her up and carrying her bridal style. Lauren slowly opens her eyes and was amazed to see Hadden staring down at her.

She tries to move, but Hadden just whispers, “Shhh, it’s okay, try to stay still.” She does, and eventually the darkness of night and the swaying of being carried lull her to sleep.

Harry continued walking for a little bit longer, his eyes scanning around the street. He finds an old worn out couch that was left for the morning pick up. He gently places her on the couch so she won’t wake up feeling sore. He takes off his coat, even though he was already cold, and gently lays the jacket on top of her.

Now only in a T-shirt, he hesitates before taking off, leaving her there. He would’ve used one of their cell phones to get help, but the two girls took them when tying them up.

Even though it was so cold there was still snow on the ground and he was just in a long sleeve shirt, Harry plows on. Eventually, his arms along with the rest of him grew increasingly numb.

He looks down at his watch, showing the time was 12:43. He lifts his head and his gaze focuses on a tall dark figure ahead. He stumbles, almost tripping over his own feet as he hurried forward.

He reaches the object, an old phone booth. He plunges his hand into his pocket, digging around for some change. He found enough and pushed the coins into the slot, dropping some in the process. He dials the number and held the phone to his ear, praying for him to pick up.

“Hello?” A sleepy voice answered.

“He-ello? Li-Liam?” Harry stutters.

“Harry, why are you calling me at this time of night?”

“Look, it’s an emergency.”

Liam sighs. “If you’re asking me for condoms again, then the answers no.”

“No! No. Look, psycho fans attacked Lauren and me. Lauren was beat pretty bad and is out cold. And I’m freezing. Can you come pick us up?” Harry sputters.

“What? I’m on my way. Wait, where are you?”

Harry mentally face palms. “Um...not sure.”

“Well, I’ll call the rest the boys, and Paul. If we split up we may be able to find you faster. Do you have any idea where you are?”

Harry looks around at the graffitied, worn out buildings. “No. Well I’m surrounded by crappy buildings so in a bad part of the city.” He hopes that helps.

“Okay, hope to see you soon.”

“Yeah... bye.”


	10. Chapter 10

Liam ran his hands over his shaved head in frustration. Harry has called him in the middle of the night _again_ to help him out _again_. Only this time it was more serious. Liam fishes his phone out of his back pocket and dials Zayn’s number, figuring he’d need the most time to get ready, as he reached for his car keys.

He explains what was going on and if he’d help with the search. After hanging up with a very irritated Zayn, who agreed in the end, he calls the others and re-explains everything three more times. Unlike Zayn, they offer to help without much pleading or coaxing.

They all agreed to meet at _The Corner Cafe_ , except Paul. He was too worried and yelled at Liam through the phone until he told him what he already knew, so he could start searching as soon as he can.

There weren’t as many cars out at the time, but enough traffic to have to drive slower than Liam would’ve liked. He pulls up in an empty spot next to the small shop and turns off his car. He is surprised it was still open. He hears the small bells above the door jingle when he walks inside. He spots Louis seated in a booth near the back, even though almost no one was in there. He quickly makes his way over, swerving among the tables.

“Any news?” Louis asks as soon as Liam was in quiet talking range. Liam shakes his head nervously. Louis pushes a mug of steaming coffee towards him. Liam gratefully accepts it, taking a big gulp. He feels the hot liquid go down his throat and disappear among his body heat.

They sit there noiselessly until they hear the tiny bell a few minutes later. Niall has made it there next. He sits down next to Liam and Louis hands Niall his cup. “Have you heard anything?” Niall asks them both.

“No.”

Again they sat in silence, each with their own thoughts, as they wait for Zayn. It wasn’t long until the bells announce Zayn’s arrival. He walks in looking the best out of all of them. While Louis, Niall, and Liam just hurriedly changed and drove down here, Zayn obviously took a little more time to get ready. He swaggers forward (like Draco) and seats himself next to Louis.

Louis turns to him and asks, “What took you so long?” Zayn just shrugs. Louis hands Zayn his cup and they all took a long drink from their own.

“So, what’s the plan?” Niall asks, looking around at everybody.

“Well I thought,” Liam pauses to take a drink. “That we should all get back in our cars and drive around and hope we stumble across them.”

The other three nod. “Also, Harry mentioned that they are in a dodgy part of the city.” None of them seem to be paying attention, but he continues on. “I’ll go search north. Louis, you try west, Niall east, and Zayn south.” As one, they stand up from the table and left in their cars.

Harry is walking back to the decaying couch where Lauren lay. He guesses he was roughly half way back when he sees car lights coming from behind him. He looks over his shoulder, but he is forced to squint due to the bright headlights.

The car slows down as it approaches Harry, its window rolled down. It pulls up right next to him, slowing down enough to be going at a walking pace. Harry could see the long blonde hair of one of the girls that attacked them. “Hey, pretty boy,” she says in a seductive voice, but he could hear the hatred in it.

“What do you want?” Harry spits at them.

“Oh, I don’t know. Revenge,” she grins evilly at that last word. Harry, slightly confused, glances around to see if he could get help before he finds out what their revenge is. He looks back at the car to find Black Beauty standing next to him with a wooden baseball bat.

Before he could react, she swings it at him. It lands a hard blow to his left side, which is sure to bruise. He yells in pain and rubs it with his arm. She swings again and it lands on his exposed other side. Harry suddenly remembers his boxing skills and is able to dodge the bat a few times. He begins to avoid more and more hits.

Blondie was getting frustrated and impatient. She steps out of the car and with her purse she whacks him from behind. Surprised, Harry turns around to face her. Black Beauty swing the bat at his exposed back, but instead of hitting his back, he had unexpectedly ducked, causing Harry to fall to the ground unconscious, a small dark spot spreading from a spot on his head.

The two girls stand there, shocked about what they have done. They realize that they had assaulted and knocked him unconscious. The boy they idolize and stalk 24/7. The boy they have covering their walls with many posters that they kiss and talk to.

Appalled, they back away from him, not taking their eyes off the body. At once, both girls get into the car as quick as they can. “Should we call an ambulance?” Blondie asks clearly worried.

Black Beauty responds just as worried, “No. I don’t want to go to jail.” Blondie wasn’t satisfied.

“Can we just do something then?”

Black Beauty slowly nods. She reaches behind her and grabs a neon orange T-shirt that she never bothered to put away. She steps out of the car and crouches down next to Harry’s head so she could tie it around the wound. Making sure it was tight; she gets back in the car. “Okay, let’s go now. We’ll know how he is tomorrow. This will be all the press is going to talk about for a while.” And they drive off, disappearing into the cold night.

Zayn is practically half dead and driving. He knows that he shouldn’t be driving, but he wants to find Harry as soon as possible so they would know he’s okay then he could go back to sleep.

He turns the corner to go down a different road. The buildings were dark and unfriendly, which set Zayn on edge. He is ready to hightail it out of there as soon as he can. His eyes scour the street searching for a tall curly-haired person. He didn’t quite know what Lauren looks like so he could only look for Harry. He has the radio on and was quietly listening to a late night station playing Kesha.

As the song was ending a car rushes past. He wonders why they were in such a hurry. He keeps driving, turning every so often. Around an hour had gone by since they had begun searching. They occasionally text each other for any information someone might have, but so far nothing’s happened. Zayn was about to call it a night when he spots a lump lying on the sidewalk. And the lump looked human.

Wide-awake now, he drives carefully towards the person. He had a bad feeling when he first saw them, and it grew worse as he was able to see the hair, and the clothes.

He pulls over several feet from the person and gets out, slowly walking towards them. He gasps in disbelief when he got close enough to know who it is without a doubt. He starts crying. He picks him up in his arms and carefully lays him down in the back seats of his car. He takes out his phone and got directions to the nearest hospital.

He then takes off; going faster than what was legal. He slows down once he got to a more populated and nicer part of the city. Zayn was still crying but now he was slightly sweating too. He got worse and worse the longer time passed so when he got to the hospital, he was close to full out panicking. He carries Harry into the emergency room and quickly got nurses and soon Harry was being rolled away on a stretcher, out of sight.

Zayn sits down in a chair. It takes him a moment to recover and remember to call the boys. He pulls out his phone and informs every one of Harry’s condition and where to go. He wipes his face with the back of his sleeve, to keep up his “bad boy” image, even though he was freaking out on the inside. A nurse hands him a form to fill out. Once he finishes he gives it back to her. Within 20 minutes everyone is there. They ask Zayn to tell them how he found Harry.

They wait in silence for what seems like many hours. Eventually a doctor comes out. All at once everybody swarms him, wanting to know if Harry is okay.

“I’ll tell you if you all please take a step back.” They complied. “Thank you. Mr. Styles got hit pretty badly in the head. Do any of you know with what?” They all shake their heads and some mumble “no.” The doctor continues. “Mr. Styles is alive but not awake quite yet. If you wish you may visit him in room 368.”

Everybody rushes to the room. Harry is lying still except his chest, which moves up and down as he breathes. His curls spread out in a circle around head. They couldn’t see the bandage, which Harry was laying on. Louis goes over next to Harry and yells, “HARRY, WAKE UP!” His eyelids twitch but nothing more happens. Louis groans, “I thought that’ll work.” He sits down in one of the chairs against the walls.

Niall yawns. He looks at his watch to discover that it was 3:41 AM. “Whoa, it’s almost four. I’m gonna go. I feel like I’m going to fall asleep at any given moment. So, night, guys!” And with that he leaves. The other boys leave soon after, all agreeing that they were exhausted. The nurses promise to call them as soon as he wakes up as they exit the hospital.


	11. Chapter 11

**{Lauren’s POV}**

I wake up sore all over and so cold that my whole body was numb. I immediately realize I was lying on some couch that was outside. I sit up, my body protesting my every move. I look all around me and don’t recognize anything. Then I remembered that I was with Harry. I look again, but didn’t see him.

I manage to stand up and take a step forward. I continue walking, stumbling every few steps. I thought I was going to fall. Going very slowly I start walking to the nearest building. I knock on the door and a middle-aged woman opens it. She takes one look at me before hurrying me inside. She guides me over to a chair asking me if I was okay. I nod and she quickly brings me a blanket.

“Do you need to call someone? Should I call for an ambulance?” She inquires. I try answering, but my teeth were chattering too much for me to say much. She leaves and in a few minutes comes back with a bowl of hot soup. “Here this will warm you up.” She sets the bowl down on a side table and then picks up the whole table and sets it back down in front of me. She rushes away and comes back with a spoon for me to eat the soup with.

She watches me carefully until I finish. She takes the bowl away and when she came back she had a phone in her hand. “Is there someone I could call?”

I nod, “My best friend.” I gave her Megan’s number. She dials it and gives the phone to me.

Megan picks up, “Hello?”

“Megan, this is Lauren.”

“Oh.” It’s silent on the other end for a moment before, “WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!?” Lauren pulls the phone away from her ear she yelled so loud.

“I’m fine, thanks for asking. I don’t know exactly where I am.” She presses the phone against her chest and turns to the lady, “Where am I?”

“You’re in the far east part of London, dear.” I put the phone back to my ear but quickly pull it away as I start coughing heavily, and won’t stop.

“Lauren!? Are you okay!?” Megan screams through the phone. The lady grabs the phone from my hand and talking into says,

“I’m going to hang up so I can call an ambulance. I have your number and will call you as soon as I know which hospital she’s going to. Bye.” She hangs up and then calls for an ambulance.

**{Third Person}**

While she was talking to the operator, Lauren slumps forward, unconscious. The woman keeps the operator up to date with what’s happening. The lady frantically waits several minutes till she hears the sirens. She steps out of her house to signal where they need to go.

A few cop cars and an ambulance pull up outside. People went into the house while others set up a stretcher and moved it right next to the door. A guy walks through the door carrying Lauren then gently places her on the stretcher. “Are you going to ride in the ambulance to the hospital, or will you prefer to ride with an officer?” A policeman asks her.

“Actually, I’m going to stay,” she answers. Then she remembers Lauren’s friend. “What hospital is she being taken to?”

“We’re taking her to Charing Cross.” She re-dials Megan’s number.

She picks up on the first ring. “Hello?”

“She’s being taken to Charing Cross.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“Yeah, I hope she gets better soon, bye.”

**{Harry’s POV}**

I open my eyes and the first thing I notice was the sickening pain in my head. I sit up and take in my surroundings. I don’t remember much. Only that Lauren and I were lost and then attacked by fans. Wait, where’s Lauren? Is she okay? Did someone find her? I glance at the clock and notice how late it is. I thought about calling for someone to ask them to check for Lauren, but I don’t want to bother anyone at this time.

I swing my legs over the side of the bed and stand up. I tiptoe to the door and peer through the window. I don’t see anyone so I quietly open my door and step out. I don’t know which way to go, but my guess is to go the way that the door numbers decrease. I reach the end of the hallway and peek around the corner and still don’t see anybody. I walk along that hallway until I reach the elevator at the end. I press the button to summon one. An elevator opens for me in seconds. I walk inside and push the button to take me down to the lobby.

I hear a ding signaling that I have reached the lobby and the doors open. I walk through and see that I was in an elevator hallway. I see a main hallway to my right. I take two steps that way when I hear a lot of movement going on down the hall. I walk quicker to the end and peek my head around the corner. I see an ambulance parked outside through the large glass windows and door. I wonder what happened to them? I take silent careful steps around the corner so the people in the lobby wouldn’t see me.

Running, people wheel a gurney into the hospital and head towards the hallway I was in. I run across into a hallway opposite of it. The gurney rushes into the hallway and immediately get into an elevator and disappear from sight. But not before I saw who is on the gurney. Oh no, not Lauren.

“Hey! What are you doing out of your room!?” I turn around to find a nurse at the other end of the hall, rushing at me. Instead of running away, I walk up to her.

I fire questions at her. “Where is she going? Is she okay? When can I see her?” Then to myself I add, “Oh my god, what the _hell_ happened?” My hands fly up to run through my hair in exasperation.

The nurse smiles but I immediately knew it’s an act. “Sir, you need to go back to your room. I’ll take you. What room are you in?” Sighing in defeat I tell her and she escorts me back.

She leaves me alone after making sure that I was in my bed and I’ve promised I won’t leave again. I crawl under the covers and lay there in the darkness staring up at the ceiling, processing all the events that happened in the past twelve hours. Eventually, exhaustion takes over and I close my eyes, falling asleep instantly.


	12. Chapter 12

**{Lauren’s POV}**

My eyes open to bright lights blinding me making me squint and blink rapidly. Once I adjust to the brightness, I sit up and look around. I immediately notice that I am in a hospital room. What happened? All I could remember was walking with Hadden and then we got lost. Two girls attacked us. Next thing I know, I’m waking up on a couch. I went to the closest building and got helped by a lady living there. Now I’m here, in a hospital. Okay, I think I’ve got everything figured out. A sudden thought strikes me. Where’s Hadden?

A turn around looking a little button I’ve heard of that calls nurses and doctors to your room. I find what I hope is it and press it. I sink back down into the bed to wait for the people to come. I didn’t have to wait long before my door opens and a nurse walks in. “Glad to see you awake. How are you feeling?” She asks me. I tell her I feel fine and she continues to ask me other questions and to check the equipment to make sure everything is working right. She finally finishes and leaves telling me that she is going to inform the doctors how I was.

I grow bored quickly. I pile pillows behind me creating a backrest for me to lean back on. Then I turn the TV on and the first thing on was the 6 AM news. I quickly change the channel and keep going up, trying to find something to watch.

I’m about to give up when I flash by a station that has Harry Styles’ picture up. As fast as I can, I flip back to listen to what rumor has spread about One Direction. It turns out to be some shit about Harry dating someone. I knew it wasn’t true, or at least I won’t believe it until I’ve heard it from one of the boys themselves during an interview. I see a picture come up of Harry facing someone whose back was to the camera. She looks a lot like me… I mute the TV and set the remote down on a side table next to the bed.

I start to reach for my phone, but then realized I didn’t have a phone. I bring my hands to my lap. With a loud bang, someone opens the door and walk in. I’m so surprised I jump noticeably. Megan tries to “swagger” forward, but fails so miserably we end up laughing loudly. She pulls a chair up next to my bed. “How are you feeling?” She asks concerned about me way more than she should.

Looking directly in her eyes I say, “I’m fine.” Breaking eye contact I add, “Why are you here so early?”

“I came as soon as I knew that you were coming here last night, but they kicked me out around midnight. Now I’m back, and since you’re awake, I won’t fall asleep again.” She turns toward the TV, “Whatcha watchin?”

“Some celebrity gossip show. They just had a story about how Harry supposedly got a girlfriend. Ugh. I _hate_ it when media does that.” I sigh loudly. “So what do you want to do?”

Megan opens her purse and digs around inside until she finds what she’s looking for and pulls it out. A deck of cards that’s being held together by a rubber band. I give her an are-you-serious look. “What? It’s the only thing I could think of.” She tosses me the cards and goes to get the side table so we can use a hard surface.

We play games like: garbage, slapjack, go fish, and war. Time seems to go by faster and all too soon Megan has to leave to go to work (intern at Smithsonian Institute.)

Once she leaves, I get bored quickly. I’m about to take a nap when April comes in. She wasn’t in her apron like she usually is, but in normal looking clothes.

But I notice she didn’t change her hair; it was up in a high ponytail like it always is. “I am so sorry that I haven’t come sooner. I was already in bed sleeping when I got the call. Then this morning, I had to wait for Jeff to come run the diner before I could leave.” She apologizes in a rush.

“It’s fine.” I wave her off. I pat the chair Megan left next to my bed, indicating for her to sit. Neither of us knows how, but we end up talking and talking and talking until 2 PM. Her visit is full of laughs. Once she leaves, I get comfortable under the covers and fall asleep quickly.

***~***

I wake up when my door opens. Dr. Eccleston stands at the foot of my bed; waiting for me to finish adjusting the pillows so I can sit up properly. “Ms. Kundel we-”

“Call me Lauren. Ms. Kundel sounds _way_ too formal and it sounds like you’re going to tell me that I’m dying or something. I’m not, right?” Dr. Eccleston chuckles,

“No. What I was going to say was that after one last checkup you’re free to go.” I smile, so glad that I’m leaving this place. He leaves when an old nurse comes in. She does her checkup quickly and we make small chat, just awkward stuff like weather.

Once the door closes behind her, I reach over to the bedside phone and dial Megan’s number. I didn’t expect her to pick up figuring she’s working, but was wrong when she answered. I tell her that I’m dismissed from the hospital and she says she’d come get me and bring me a change of clothes. I watch TV until she comes. I change in the bathroom and we leave without a second thought.

We turn the corner and immediately stop in our tracks. There, we see a group of four men gathered outside a door. They stop talking and turn to us, slight annoyance on a few of their faces. The one with the buzz cut walks up to us first and the others follow. “Hello? Can we help you? Are you a fan?” He asks us calmly.

He doesn’t get a response from either of us, so Louis waves his hands right in front of our faces causing us to break from our trance, blinking rapidly. They all smile now that we are moving. “Okay, so you’re fans. That is almost obvious. So, what would you like signed?” A Sharpie appears from his front pocket.

Instead Megan asks, “What are you doing here?” Liam glances at the boys and they give him a just-tell-her look.

“Well, we’re visiting Harry. He got badly attacked by fans so now he’s here. Will you please not tell the press? We’re not ready to tell them yet.” They just nod.

Down the hall a door opens and Hadden walks out. He takes one glance at the boys and then looks past them to see me. His eyes widen, “Oh shit…”

I push past the others and run up to him, hugging him tightly. I pull back, my eyes peering into his, searching for a solution to my confusion. “Wha- what’s going on? Do you know them?” He looks very nervous.

Megan walks up next to me and looks Hadden over. Her eyes get extremely big and her mouth hangs open, trying to form words. Her face contorts into thinking mode, staring at the boy in front of them.

She takes a step back before falling to the ground on her bum. Her hands fly behind catch her, but she scoots away even farther. Looking accusingly at Hadden she shouts. “Why!? She got beat up because of you! Look where she is! Look where you are! How- why didn’t you tell her! You lied to her!”

I crouch down next to Megan and help her up. Hadden stands there looking ashamed. He opens his mouth to say something but before he could say anything Megan runs over to him and slaps him. _Hard._

I gasp in shock and hurry over to her and wrap my arms around her from behind, reaching her in time before she could punch him, which I could tell she was about to. She struggles against me, but she doesn’t get loose. “You’re such an ass!” Megan yells from within my clutches.

Niall takes her from me, holding her against his chest. She stiffens and backs away, getting away from him. “I’m just going to go over here,” she mumbles standing to the side, next the wall.

I turn back to Hadden, “What is she talking about?”

He grabs my arms against my sides and rubs them comfortingly. “I’m not Hadden. I’m Harry, from One Direction.” He says carefully, waiting for my reaction. I was speechless. Part of me believed him but a bigger part didn’t.

“Are you really?”

“He is.” I turn around. It was Louis.

Ideas rush through my head at a million of thoughts per hour. In my dazed state, Harry takes my hand and kisses the top of it; my heart flutters at the touch of his lips. “I _am_ sorry. I just wanted to see what dating a girl would be like, normally, without my fame.” I gather my thoughts as Louis clears his throat behind us,

“Well, now that that’s sorted out, we got to go. Interview.” The four wave and say their goodbyes.

“Well, we were leaving before so… Are you staying?” Megan reminds me.

“I’ll stay, so I can get to know the famous Harold Styles.

So Megan leaves too. We retreat into Harry’s room, which looks exactly like mine only trashed. “Uh, sorry about the mess.” Harry states, picking up some wrappers off the floor and putting them in the trash bin.

We spend the rest of the day chatting and getting to know each other better.


	13. Chapter 13

**{Megan’s POV}**

I say goodbye to Lauren and start heading towards the exit. I get in an elevator and ride it down to the lobby. I turn out of the hallway of elevators and see four familiar heads. I quickly catch up to them. “Hi. I don’t think we’ve properly met. I’m Megan, Lauren’s best friend and roommate.” I stick out my hand and Louis is the first to take it.

“I’m Louis.”

“I’m Zayn.”

“I’m Niall.”

“And I’m Liam.” He says shaking my hand, finishing the introductions. “I think I remember you… were you at a meet and greet about a week ago?” I nod.

“I don’t remember you…” Niall comments. Neither did Louis or Zayn.

“Oh, remember the girl who fainted in front of Harry?” Liam asks.

“Yeah,” they chorus.

“That was Lauren.” They nod and someone says “oh yeah” as they realize who she is.

“Well, I took the rest of the day off if you guys want to go grab a burger or something?” I offer them.

“We actually have an interview to go to, sorry. We-”

“You can come with us!” Niall cuts in. Everyone swivels their head to look at Niall in surprise and confusion, making him blush. “I-I mean only if you want to.”

My mouth hangs open for a moment, deciding. “Ar-Are you sure? Am I really allowed to come? I don’t want to get anyone in trouble, and-”

Louis interrupts my babbling, “Sure! Why not?”

“Okay then. I have no idea what to do so I’m just going to follow you.” I say ushering them out of the hospital. They lead me to a black Ranger. Once I get in, I see Paul in the driver’s seat. “Hello. You must be Paul, right?” I reach across the seats to shake his hand.

He shakes my hand in a friendly manner, but he looks at me suspiciously. “Yeah, who are you?”

“I’m-”

“This is Megan,” Niall introduces for me as they climb in. I end up sitting in the back next to Zayn.

“Does Megan have a last name?” Paul jokes, much more at ease around me.

“Keitel. Megan Keitel,” I say.

Paul starts driving as Niall, who’s in front of me, turns to face me. “Are you related to Harvey Keitel?”

“Oh, so you’ve heard of my dad.” Zayn, Louis, and Liam were having their own conversation, but fall quiet when they hear my response. I now have four boys staring at me in shock until Zayn pipes up,

“Harvey Keitel’s your dad?!”

I giggle at their expressions. “No,” I scoff. “My family likes to joke about us having the same last name.” They all relax. “And Harvey Keitel’s daughter is named Stella or something.”

They rest of the ride was fun as I got to experience them off camera. It was better than I’ve ever dreamed. Literally, I’ve actually daydreamed about doing this many times to pass the time in school. Our time together is short as we pull up to the backside of a monstrous building.

The boys get out and I follow them, as they are quickly hurried inside. I’m behind everyone as we make our way through a narrow hallway and I almost lose the boys as we come to the end of it. Tons of people scurry back and forth all around the office. I look back at the boys to see they’re not there. I frantically search the room until I see the bright yellow of a security guard leaving into a different room.

I push my way to where I saw them go and gasp at the sheer size of the room I enter. I try to find where the lads are and long arms waving to me catch my attention. I speed walk over to them and sit on the floor next to Louis. He flicks me right on the temple and then laughs at my angry expression, which changes to shock when I do it back. He rubs it in fake hurt while everyone else chuckles.

A lady with near white colored hair and an I-don’t-care shirt and jeans with a sweatshirt tied around her waist comes over and immediately pulls out a large case that folds out into a makeup stand. I stand up and take a step back recognizing her as their stylist, Lou Teasdale. Once she’s finished, the boys start goofing off again.

The boys are soon called over to start the interview and I just stay sitting there, feeling suddenly awkward and out-of-place. The cameras turn on and the interviewer introduces himself and the boys before asking them questions. They go through the normal questions like “Who’s single?” and “What do you like in a girl?” So basically the ones every directioner already knows. He inquires where Harry is and they tell him a simplified, not-the-whole-truth version of why Harry’s in the hospital.

They conclude the interview after a while and by then I had taken out my phone to text Lauren to see how she’s doing and to check Twitter, tweeting to my eleven followers that I have had “an unusual and fun day.”

The boys rip off their shirts and I can’t help but stare at their shirtless bodies. “Like what you see?” Niall teases, which brings me out of my trance, blushing madly. I look away blushing madly. Once they’ve changed I follow them back to the car silently.

When we’ve all sat down with our seatbelts on, I ask them, “Where to now?”

“Lunch,” Niall answers happily. I predicted that we’d go somewhere fancy or slightly expensive where I’d feel uncomfortable, so I was relieved when I saw us getting Wendy’s.

As expected, Niall got quite a lot with two burgers, a large fry, and a mint shake. I plan on getting my usual but when it comes time for me to tell my order, I randomly panic and get the first thing that comes to mind; a six piece nugget.

I regret my decision as I got handed my snack. While everyone else has so much more, I’m stuck with proportions for a four year old, and I’m too scared to ask anyone to share. I eat my nuggets slowly, trying to avoid the awkwardness that happens when people eat with people who aren’t eating. As slowly as I ate, I still end up being the first done, so I soundlessly watched everyone else eat.

“Now where?” I question, to have Zayn answer,

“A radio station to do another interview,” He says, turning to face me. He opens his mouth to say something but decides against it and turns back around. I make small talk with the group till we arrive at a smaller building.

We walk in and this time I never take my eyes off them until we reach the room we wait in till the interview starts.

We only had wait a few minutes before they were told to come in and find a spot with a microphone and put on headphones to hear themselves better. This interview is only exactly like the previous one, so I get bored quicker. I’m already uninterested in my phone so I choose to walk around and hopefully be able to find my way back. I take a quick glance through the window that shows the boys doing their interview, laughing at something someone said, before exiting the room I was in unnoticed.

I look both left and right, deciding which way to go. Since we came from the right, I’ll go left. I walk all the way to the end to find only a storage closet and what looks like an unused office. I head back and discover a door I didn’t notice the first time. I open it and hear grunting. It stops and I just stand there in shock at the scene before me. “Tara? It’s not- please don’t tell Mr. Callow. Please Tara?” I’m about to correct her that I wasn’t this Tara person, but it sounds like she makes work hell for anyone, exception of the guy.

During this time, the male had gotten his pants on and is in the process of buttoning up his shirt. “Put your clothes back on and meet me here in ten minutes.” I leave and go back to the boys, who are wrapping up their interview, but I still needed to talk to that slut. “Psst,” I hiss at them. They turn to me in a huddle like formation. “I can’t leave here yet. There’s something I need to do. I’ll tell you later, but can you buy me some time? Please?”

They agree and Louis punches Liam in the jaw. “Ow! What was that for?” Louis signals to me and he and Liam start recklessly fighting each other. Niall and Zayn start wrestling, causing havoc, and I slip out and go to the room those people were… She’s there like a told her to and I swiftly read her nametag. A faint memory stirs in my mind. “Well, Brianna-”

“I told you to call me Ms. Rudd!” I glare at her to remind her that I have the upper hand and she shrinks back.

“I’ve decided that you will be punctual, a hard worker, and volunteer to help people around here with whatever they’re doing. That also means you have to be nice.” Brianna nods hastily and gives me a hug. I tentatively hug her back. “Never, and I mean _never_ speak of this. Not even to me.” And with that I leave before it could get more awkward.

I open the door to where the boys are stalling and to find the place trashed. Niall is standing in the far corner; Zayn is in the opposite corner, while Paul and someone else hold Louis and Liam away from each other. They see me, and start laughing and talking like nothing happened. I can tell Paul and the other guy are extremely flustered, which makes me giggle a little. Louis puts his arm around Paul’s shoulders, smiling like an idiot, “We should leave, ya?” The muscular man agrees and ushers everybody out of the small room.


	14. Chapter 14

**{Lauren’s POV}**

I close the door to my apartment and lean against it, sighing. I wait a moment, to think and to clear my mind before moving slightly away from the door to take my coat off. I change into my pajamas planning on going to bed sometime soon so I can get up in the morning. I don’t feel tired yet so I play music on shuffle and sing loudly to it. A song from Phantom of the Opera comes on. About halfway through it I stop singing, remembering something.

At that moment the door to the apartment opens and Megan walks in. I stare at her wide-eyed, causing her to be concerned. She rushes over to me and demands to tell her what’s wrong.

“The auditions…” I mumble before I start freaking out. “Megan the auditions are, like, eleven days away! We need to start our performances, audition…. things!” I flail my arms around as I spoke.

Megan gasps and her eyes grew to match mine in size. “Oh shit.” We both run about getting ready to start practicing. She went to her room to change while I ran to the kitchen to grab a large bottle of water for each of us.

Once ready and calmed down, we listened to the soundtrack of the opera to decide which song to audition to. After careful planning, I chose the song _Chi Vuol Comprare la Bella_ _Calandrina (Who Will Buy the Beautiful Canary)_ while Megan will be dancing to _I See Fire_.

Megan and I moved the furniture back to give her more room to create a dance, while I thought my room would be a quieter place to sing. I place my iPod in the speaker and find the song I chose. A moment before hitting play, Megan’s song could be heard, strange and disoriented coming through the walls.

A couple of hours pass before I take a break from my vocal projection. I walk into the living room to find Megan with her leg hoisted in the air next to her at a bizarre angle that looks painful, but yet strangely beautiful. Her leg changed positions to be in front of her a moment before landing soundlessly on the floor.

I watch on the side until the song finishes and Megan stops dancing. I clap without interest for her a few times. That’s when she notices me, and smiles. “Thank you, thank you,” she says to an imaginary crowd and dramatically bows to them and blows them a few kisses.

I giggle at her and go past to the kitchen. I start dinner while Megan is in her room putting on her cover-up and sweatpants. My phone (Harry insisted in getting me a new one) buzzes signaling an incoming call.

“Hey,” Harry says once I pick up.

“Hi, what’s up?” I ask.

“I’m bored. You?”

“Making mac and cheese.”

He groans. “That sounds so good right now. Hospital food really does taste awful.”

“Aw. I’ll bring you some if you want.”

“Yes, please. Why don’t you bring dinner for two?”

I smile at his cheekiness. “Sure, it’ll be about hour. I just started and then I have to get it to you.”

“That’s alright. It’ll be worth it when I see you and that real food.” I snicker a little at his comment.

“Okay. See ya soon. Bye.” Harry says bye back and we hang up. I continue to stir the pasta, tasting a noodle every few minutes, while thinking back on the conversation I just had.

Megan enters the room and immediately notices my blank expression. “Whatcha thinkin’ about?” She asks.

“Harry just called me on my new phone. Is it alright if he has your bit of the mac and cheese?” I have already guessed the answer but it doesn’t hurt to try. She gives me an are-you-serious look and blinks in disbelief, while I stand there waiting for her to say it.

She takes a deep breath, about to say something, but hesitates, trying to find a good way to say it. “Do you really think I’ll say yes?”

“I thought I’d at least try. But I already told him he could have it. Sorry.” Her shoulders slump a little.

She sighs before saying, “Fine. Will you make some more when you come back? I still remember that time when I burned mac and cheese.” She stares at nothing as the memory replays in her mind, a slight smile forms on her lips.

I check the noodles and find them done. I drain the water and add milk, cheese and a tad bit of butter. Once it’s completely finished I dish it into a Tupperware container to take it to the hospital. “Bye Megan! I’m off to the hospital! I’ll be back in… I’ll be back before ten!” I call to Megan who had moved to the living room earlier.

She just shoos me off to let me know she heard, which I’m surprised she did. Of course she’s _reading_ again _._ I wonder how she still finds Harry Potter interesting. I know she’s read the entire series about ten times already and have seen the movies countless times, but I’d think it’d get old eventually. I shake my head and sigh, giving up on the mystery. I leave and make my way downstairs, through the lobby, and into my car.

I get there and park my car fairly close to the hospital. I get out and walk into the massive building. I fill out a sign-in form and find my way to Harry’s room. I memorized his room placement the first time I was here, though it’s not that hard to find. When I enter his room, he’s sleeping. I walk over to his bedside and place the containers of food behind me on a chair.

I kneel beside him and as creepy as it sounds, watch him sleep. I brush away a strand of hair hanging in front of his eye. He wiggles a bit and opens his eyes at my touch. When he recognizes me he smiles, a nice wide happy smile that makes me smile.

I reach behind me and grab the mac and cheese, opening the boxes and grabbing two forks. I hand over a bowl and a plastic fork and he quickly shoves a forkful in his mouth. “It may be slightly cold, but it’s still the best thing here.” He remarks between bites. I nod in acknowledgment. We make quiet small talk until we’ve both emptied our bowls. I stack the containers neatly along with the lids and put them next to my purse.

When I turn around, he has scooted to the far side of the bed and indicates me to sit next to him. I thought about saying no, but something comes over me and I comply. I get under the covers and cuddle up with him. We lean into each other and his arm is around my shoulders. We lay together like that for who knows how long, just absorbing the other.

My eyes get heavy and before I can stop, I fall asleep in Harry’s arms.

**{Megan’s POV}**

I check the time to discover it’s almost eleven. Well, okay 10:30 but who cares. While I’ve been able to tear my eyes from the tempting pages of the book, I go on twitter. I scroll down a little and find to my surprise a twitcam of Liam is in progress. I click the link on my phone and while I wait for it to connect, I rush around the flat finding the laptop Lauren and I share, but don’t use much.

I quickly log in to twitter and find the link again. I exit out of it on my phone now that I have a laptop instead. It connects much faster than my phone and I squeal in delight, as Liam appears on my screen in an orange shirt. It’s slightly blurry but I don’t care cause Liam fucking Payne is live on my screen.

“Hello. Can everyone hear me? Can you all see me?” Liam calls over my speakers. I send him a tweet confirming I can see and hear him.

“Okay, I’m going to get started, first off, does anyone have any questions for me?”

I quickly tweet: Do you know my dad, Harvey Keitel? –Megan

Liam answers a few other questions and then mumbles my tweet as he reads it. He smiles, “Yes, though I hear his daughters named Stella.”

I smile back even though he can’t see it. I don’t tweet anymore and just sit back and watch him answer other fan’s questions. As I watch him I think back to the first twitcam I saw. It was a short one Niall did a few years ago. I laughed at the thought that I hyperventilated so much that I almost passed out. But didn’t because Lauren was there and calmed me down. Wait, where is Lauren?

I reach over and snatch my phone off the arm of the couch and call Lauren’s number. It rings and rings until I get her voicemail. I end the call hurriedly not wanting to leave a voicemail and start to get a little panicky. It was only two days ago that she was attacked and sent to the hospital. The hospital, that’s where she went!

I put on black sweatpants and my violet heavy winter over my dance outfit before I go outside, forgetting Lauren took the car, and go outside, forgetting Lauren took the car. I stick my arm out to hail a cab. After a few pass me, one pulls over for me. “Thank you,” I say as I get in.

No problem.” The friendly driver says back. “Where to, ma’am?”

“Charing Cross Hospital please.” We drive off and within minutes we’re there. “How much, sir?”

“£23.” Fuck. I think I forgot my wallet at home. I check my pockets in a hurry, and in blessed relief I feel a lump in my coat pocket. I hand him the amount and step out of the cab.

I walk in and up to the front desk. “What room is Harry Styles in?” I ask politely.

“Mr. Styles is not here.” She says, a little too quickly.

I feared this. “Excuse me, but he is. I saw him and spoke to him-” I then realize what she is doing. “Look, I’m not a fan that’ll leak things or want an autograph. He’s my friend and he knows me. So please give me his room number?” I plead. Not giving in yet, I attempt my final say. “He has a head injury

The secretary seems to question herself whether to give me the information. “His room number is 394. And you didn’t hear it from me.”

I thank her and rush to the room she told me he’s in. I charge in somewhat loudly due to my adrenaline rush. I expected to see Harry, maybe sleeping, on his bed. But I didn’t expect to see both Harry and Lauren on his bed sleeping together. I hope I didn’t wake them. They didn’t wake and I mentally sigh, and then aw at the sight of them.

I take out my phone and take a few pictures of them, thinking how cute they look. Now that I know where my friend is I leave and go back to my flat. The laptop is open exactly where I left it, Liam still on the screen. He’s fist pumping to a song I can’t quite make out from here. Suddenly feeling tired, I stumble to my room, closing the lid to my laptop on the way.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 (Wednesday, Dec 19)

**{Lauren’s POV}**

I wake up feeling different than normal. I discover why when I open my eyes and find myself in a hospital bed. I feel a lump next to me and am surprised when I see Harry, his arms wrapped around me loosely and his head buried in my neck. I sit up, trying not to wake him, but I accidently bump his leg, which causes him to stir. I hold my breath as I wait to see if he’ll wake up. I let it go when he stops moving.

I attempt to get out of the bed when I hear, “Where are you going?” His morning voice is so sexy, making me melt on the inside. I look behind me to see Harry, propping himself up on his elbow.

“I have to go to work,” I say, finally standing up. He groans in response and lies back down.

“Why?” He whines. “Can’t you skip and stay with me? It gets boring here by myself.”

I peck him on his forehead. “Cause I’m not a millionaire.” I get my things and about to leave when Harry says,

“Wait.”

I stop and turn to face him. He waves me over and shifts into a more comfortable position as I come over and kneel down to be at his height and look him in the eye. He licks his lips nervously and then he closes his eyes, “WillYouBeMyGirlfriend?”

“What? Say it slower.”

“Will. You. Be. My. Girlfriend?” He asks and his face scrunches up, preparing for a no.

“Harry…” I start to say. He looks at me, sadness filling his features. I struggle to find the words to say. “I… I really like you. Just, I don’t want to rush. We’ve been on, like, one date. And we only just met a few days ago.”

“Yeah. I understand.” He says lowly. I feel bad for rejecting him.

“No, Harry. I want to stay together, but not officially to where we are called girlfriend/boyfriend. I’d like to go on a few more dates first, if you don’t mind.”

Thanks to my words, he doesn’t seem like he’s going to cry. I lean in, kissing him on the cheek to keep him hopeful that we’d be together eventually. That draws a small quick smile. I stand back up, feeling the stretch in my legs, and walk out of the hospital.

During the ride home, I ponder over the fact that he wanted to make official. He asked me to be his _girlfriend._ Though I said no, I’m still happy about it.

It wasn’t until I was home did I start screaming in delight. I hear the pounding of footsteps and Megan suddenly appears in front of me. “What? Is it Channing Tatum?”

“Why are you home?” I ask her, confused.

“I took the day off. So, why were you screaming?”

I bite my lip, holding back more shrieks. “Harry asked me to be his girlfriend!”

She screams so loud, I become worried that the police are being called. “Shush!” I tell her, picking up a nearby pillow and throwing it at her. She squeezes her eyes shut and brings her arms up to fend herself like a wimp.

“Hey!” She protests, picking the pillow up off the ground to hold it to her chest.

“I told him no.”

She looks at me in shock. “You told him NO?”

“You know me, I don’t like to rush relationships. Others wise I feel like I’m forcing my emotions.”

“But he still asked! Which means he likes you! We should go out in celebration!” She proclaims, throwing the pillow in the air to have it bounce off the ceiling and land on the couch behind her. We get our phones and our purses and head out.

We drive around a little until we see a restaurant we both agree to. We walk inside and immediately delicious smells fill our senses. There are a few people here, but not many. The place is a seat yourself kind of place and we find a seat near the corner.

A waiter strolls to our table to take our order. He’s wearing all black except a white apron thing around his waist and a colorful medium sized IHOP symbol under his shoulder. We scan the menu and when we’ve decided told him our order. As soon as the waiter is out of earshot, we start talking about anything and everything.

Our food arrives and while I had my one plate of waffles and eggs, Megan had a plate that held a stack of pancakes, and a plate of eggs with a few strips of bacon. I’ve known her for most of my life, yet her appetite still surprises me sometimes. We make mild conversation till even after we had eaten everything and our plates are empty.

Megan starts talking about an interesting event that happened at her internship when I remember. I groan in the middle of a sentence causing her to stop. She gives me a look that says ‘explain’.

“I completely missed work today. And I bet Mr. Sage won’t be happy.”

“You look not happy, so I suggest more food.” She says with an energetic smile which means her food has finished digesting already and has turned into sugar.

“Ah, no. Lets go.” I pull my coat on and grab my purse. Megan mirrors my movements. She puts a couple bills on the table and we walk out the restaurant. Megan, being the social weirdo she is, waves to an old couple sitting next the door and a waiter hurrying back to the kitchen with their order.

“I wanna go somewhere with April. Please?” Megan pleas when we get in our car, pulling a childish begging face.

I rolls my eyes, “Fine.” I start the car to turn the heat on while I wait for Megan who is speed texting April.

“She says to meet her at her café so we can pick her up.” I nod in understanding and pull our car into the traffic.

We pull up to the café a few minutes later. I turn off the car and we rush inside to be away from the cold for a little while. April comes out from the kitchen when the above-the-door bell rings signaling we’re here. “I’ll grab my coat, then we can go.”

I nod and Megan yells, “Be quick!” As she shuffles back to the kitchen. She returns with her coat, putting it on as she walks over to us. We wait as she zips it up, then we pile into our small car. April asks where we’re going and Megan shouts,

“To the movies!” We all giggle, as she still acts young sometimes. It can actually get annoying if you’re her roommate and get it 24/7.

“So, how’s Hadden?”

Megan and I share a look, causing April to ask, “What?”

“Actually, he’s not Hadden.” Megan begins.

“He’s, you won’t believe this, HARRY STYLES!”

April bursts out laughing loudly. “I’m serious!” I yell over her laughs.

The ride to the theater is full of chatting and hysterics, retelling each other funny stories and mishaps while goofing off in the mix. The car pulls up outside the theater and we get out, the tales from the car ride fade away and we turn serious for we are amongst a lot of people and we don’t like unknown people overhearing our conversations, no matter what we’re talking about. Huddled together with our shoulders bumping against each other as we sway side to side with our steps, approaching the double doors.

We pay for our tickets inside and go to the back of the line for movie snacks. Megan and I continue our debate about 5SOS with April chipping in her opinion every so often. I know that they are awesome and wonder why anyone can dislike them while Megan keeps repeating that it’s not them, just that she won’t ever become a fan. Whatever.

We trail off our unending dispute when we reach the front. I order a drink, small popcorn and a candy, Megan gets a slushy and candy, while April gets her large popcorn and drink. It never fails to amaze us that April, who can barely eat an entire sandwich without becoming full, can pack away a large container of popcorn.

Juggling our snacks trying to get to our seats without dropping the food, we stagger our way to the screen room for Saving Mr. Banks, since Megan refused to go see Insidious 2 and I protested against Planes.

In hurried whispering we choose to sit in the very center of the seats. I settle down in a seat between the two and we open our candy, or in April’s case her popcorn, and start eating. The deep red curtain covering the screen rises and the before movie trailers start.

By the end of the trailers our adrenaline is flowing and we are hyper for the movie to start, some (Megan) more than others. The movie starts and we get comfortable for the long sitting period ahead of us.

The movie finishes and we sit up from our slouching position in the chairs. Stretching, we stand up and I let out a yawn. We lazily grab our empty containers and shuffle tiredly to door in the back of the theater where a large trash bin is already filled and is threatening to spill some of it’s contents. Due to lack of room I place my popcorn bowl on top of it with my cup inside. The box of sugar got lost sometime in the middle of the movie.

“Now what?” I wonder, entering the theater lobby area. April, surprisingly, answers,

“I got a text during the movie, I’m needed at the café. So, bye!”

“Potato!” Megan calls after her, remembering their personalized goodbyes.

“Donkey Kong!” April hollers back. Now smiling, Megan and I went to our car, seeing April get in a taxi on the way. The drive home went by quickly and all too soon we were back home, doing our own thing.

We have a quiet remainder of the evening. I make supper for us both an hour after coming home due to Megan’s persistence, and my best friend and I peacefully did some work at home until we the calling of our beds grew too loud to ignore.


	16. Chapter 16

**{April‘s POV}**

Several days ago I, for some reason, promised myself that I would start exercising. I’m not fat or even chubby, just not muscular and felt I should become more athletic. I have no stamina or muscles anywhere. My friends say I have a sexy stomach, but I know I don’t.

A few years previously I had bought a nice sports bra that can be worn by itself thinking that I would use it, but I didn’t, until today.

I dig it out from the depths of my dresser all wrinkled and in need of ironing, but I pull it on anyway. It’s a little snug however it’ll do for now. I already had a pair of shorts on as I step of at bottom of the stairs and walk through the kitchen, stopping to grab my cellphone that was charging on the counter and place it in one of the shallow pockets of my shorts.

I step through the front door of the café. My apartment sets above it, part of the benefits of working there for years. I instantly notice how cold it was and I shiver because of it. I jog to my room and throw on one of my many sweatshirts and tug on the sweatpants I left on the floor. I retrace my steps back through the door and, feeling much warmer now, I started my run. People saw me jogging and shuffled kindly to the side to let me pass without knocking someone over.

I hurry across the street and a wall around the perimeter to Rosemary Park greets me. I jog around the corner, starting to feel tired and slightly sweaty already. I really need to exercise more. The thought makes me smile slightly. When I find an entrance to the park I turn in. I keep going along the curved path even though my breathing is heavy. I reach a circular rest area lined with benches and with paths leading off in other directions.

I go over to the nearest bench that’s not occupied and lay down on it, exhausted. I look around at the other people here. A couple cuddling on a bench next to me, an old woman surrounded by pigeons, another empty seat directly across from me, a middle-aged man fiddling with a camera, and a family drinking hot cocoa. I sigh closing my eyes, letting my body rest.

Moments later I hear loud footsteps and heavier breathing then I was. I squint my eyes and they fall upon a new person here. Besides being a guy, the first thing a notice is how fit he is. I sit up so I can get a better look. He’s bent over with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. He sits down on an empty bench one over from me. I try to ignore him but I just can’t. He’s wearing a black jersey that is soaked in sweat and matching black sweatpants.

He looks at me and I quickly look somewhere else. I look at the man with the camera to see him staring at the newcomer too, deep in thought, like he’s figuring something out. He glances around the area, his eyes falling on me. I get slightly creeped out and when he smiles at me I’m this close to high-tailing it out of there.

He stands and comes over to me with his hand out. I hesitantly reach out and shake it, a little apprehensive. “Hi, I’m Richard Renaldi. I’m a photographer and I take pictures for this album called ‘Touching Strangers’. I go to public places and take pictures of total strangers posing with each other. It symbolizes the importance of not judging other people and I think you and that man over there will be an excellent photo.” His voice drops down to a whisper, “Not to mention he’s cute. If you’re lucky you might a number.” He winks and I blush.

“Okay...” I’m still slightly unsure.

I follow him to the man and wait patiently behind him as he explains everything over again to him and leans over to whisper something I can’t quite hear. The guy glances at me before nodding. He holds his arm out to shake my hand while Richard fusses with his camera. “Hello, I’m-”

“Ready!” Richard interrupts. He instructs me to sit next to him and to put our arms around each other and to put my head on his shoulder. When I do I get this, feeling, and I can’t figure out what. This must be some extreme level of awkward. Richard backs up a couple steps and takes a few pictures. He thanks us and leaves.

The guy and I separate from each other quickly. I get up to leave, “Wait!” A voice calls to stop me and I feel a hand wrapped tightly around my arm.

I follow the arm to its body, the boy I had my picture taken with. I scrunch my face to glare at him and tug my arm from his grasp. I hate being manhandled.

“Sorry,” He says quietly. Aw, he must be shy.

“Well, what is it?” I ask trying to sound impatient even though I was just curious.

“Um, well, do you… do you wanna go get… do you want to go get a coffee with me?” He avoided eye contact until that last bit. His eyes are so brown. Then my extreme shyness kicks in.

“Oh, um, uh, yeah?” I manage to say, though it was a question. He grins widely and sticks out his hand,

“Hi, I’m Liam.”

“Like Liam Payne! From One Direction!” Liam opens his mouth to say something and I interrupt him, “Don’t, I understand, I get from just about every guy I try to date.”

Liam looks perplexed, but shakes it off. Literally. “Oh yeah, I’m April.”

“Like the month!” Liam exclaims and I have a feeling he’s mocking me.

We walk to the edge of the park, pointing out things we see every so often.

Liam scratches the back of his head nervously then points to a shop down the street. “I think there’s a coffee shop somewhere around there.”

I nod and follow him to it, sticking close to him so I don’t lose him among the crowds of people. He opens the door and steps back to let me in first. I nod to him shyly in thanks. Inside, at first glance, it looks like a library. Everywhere there were stacks of books or bookcases.

“Where’s the coffee shop?” I whisper to him. This place has the effect of a library as well.

Liam guides me behind a wall of bookcases into a completely different looking section of the brasserie. Here a few tables were scattered around the area and to one side was a counter where I presume you order your meal. I walk behind him, shy, as we approach. Liam places his order first with chips (French fries) and a deli sandwich. I mumble, “A ham sandwich and… potato chips (crisps), please.”

“Oh, and two small fountain drinks.” The person behind the counter takes our order and hands us two cups. Before I could tell him that I didn’t bring money, he takes out a wallet from an unnoticeable pocket in his sweats and takes out a few bills to pays her. He puts his wallet away and I take the receipt the cashier hands us.

We chose a table right next to the wall of bookcases. Well, this is awkward. It’s silent for a minute until Liam reaches up and grabs a book off the shelf.

“I heard this book is turning into a movie. Don’t quote me on it, but just sayin’.” He shows me the cover. _Allegiant._ I laugh silently.

“I know many of my classmates that are practically in love with that book. I’m not, thank goodness. Lauren and Megan, my friends, have both read it and love it. Well, Lauren loves it, Megan is more obsessed.”

Liam and I start talking about our favorite movies. As our conversation continues, it varies. We don’t stop through our waitress bringing our food and the person walking in the shop.

We both shut up for a second to chew and I take a second to look at the person who came in earlier. I freeze and the food nearly tumbles out of my mouth, but I close my lips before that happens.

Liam notices a moment later. “April, what is it?” I swallow and open my mouth to speak but no words came out.

The person turns and sees me. Our eyes meet and she smirks at me, evilly.


	17. Chapter 17

**{Liam’s POV}**

I turn to see what she is starting at and only see a girl at the counter with her back to us. April comes back to her senses and suddenly notices her food in front of her like she hadn’t seen it before. She pushes her plate away from her shaking her head, indicating she wasn’t hungry anymore.

“What is it?” I urge her gently. She glances at me and then looks away quickly, shaking her head shyly. I open my mouth to ask her again when she whispers,

“Can we go, please?”

I nod my head and stand up from the table, April copying my movements. Pushing in our chairs, we walk through the bookcases and the front section into the street.

The sky had changed to slightly cloudy and overcast, like it was going to snow sometime that day, or in the next 24 hours. We look at each other awkwardly and both blush.

On impulse, I smoothly take her hand in mine and my feet take me away from that spot, April trailing along. I slow down for her to catch up. We walk in silence, thinking of something to talk about, our hands unintentionally swinging a little between us.

“Who was she?” I ask, breaking the silence. After a moment of more silence she replies

“Several years ago, when I around sixteen and still lived with my family in America, I had a brother. He was 23 years old when…” She trailed off, to prepare herself to say something next.

“I’m sorry.” I say without thinking. She looks at me confused.

“What?”

“Oh, I just thought…” I trail off. “Never mind.”

“So, my brother, John, was about 23 and had this girlfriend. They were together for about a year or so when he let slip to me that he planned to propose to her. I went over to their house the next day when John was at work…”

**_[CUE FLASHBACK]_ **

**_{April’s POV}_ **

_The day was early and the sun was bright, creating a happy feeling. It was President’s Day or something. My brother had told me that how he was going to propose to his girlfriend. She isn’t my ideal person for my brother to marry, but I respect his decisions and choices, especially when it came to dating and romantic stuff. I’m just too awkward for it._

_I get on my bike, cause I’m lazy enough to put off getting a license, and start pedaling towards John’s house. I thought maybe if I spent more time with her, maybe I could start liking her more, or at least be able to tolerate her for more than ten minutes. I stop outside the house and use my foot to put the kickstand up and I roll my bike into the front lawn._

_I walk the short the distance from my bike to the front steps and the door. I shove my key into the keyhole and turn it, hearing the click of the door unlocking. The door swings inward at my touch and I walk in, looking around at the semi-familiar living room. I stroll across the living room, weaving through the fancy furniture._

_Nobody at school knows that my brother is technically “rich.” I’m mainly embarrassed at how people would treat me if they knew. I’ve only ever told Lauren and Megan. I reach my destination, the kitchen, and frown, not finding who I was looking for._

_I go up the stairs to look on the second floor, just now hearing movement in a room down the hall from the top staircase. I think it’s their room. I quietly tiptoe to the door, aiming to scare her; the only person I can scare. As gently as I can, I push open the door, making no sound. I peer around the door and, -“AAAHHH!!!”- I scream._

_To sum up what I saw, she was standing next to the bed and there was an unknown half-naked male presence with an arm wrapped around her waist and his other hand tangled in her hair. Lucky for me they both were still wearing underwear. Unlucky for my brother, they were snogging._

_I run down the hallway, trying to put some distance between that skank, and me. The two lovers stare at the doorway in shock. I start tearing up as I run out of the house and cry during my ride back to my house. It wasn’t until after I had ignored my mom’s requests to comfort me and I had locked myself in my room did I realize why. My brother… is going to be_ devastated _. Wait, do I tell him? Oh my goodness, I don’t know what to do!_

_I pull out my phone and send a text to Lauren and Megan, asking them to come over. Megan texted right back saying she will be over soon. A few minutes later I got a text from Lauren saying that she can’t now, but will be over when her bass lesson is over in 15 minutes._

_I open the door long enough to inform my mom that I have friends coming over and then I close the door again. I lay on my bed alone until the doorbell interrupts my thoughts._

_I bolt out of my room, open the door, grab Megan’s arm, and drag her to my room, closing the doors in the process. I go to sit on the bed while Megan stands in front of the door to collect herself._

_“Well, okay.” She mutters. I wave her over and pat a spot on the bed to my left. She sits down obediently, staring at me pointedly. I fumble with my words to start, my mind still deciding what I think about the situation._

_“Ooo… lets play 20 question! Is it a person?”_

_I nod._

_“Is it about a boy?”_

_I shake my head at first, but then shake my head side to side indicating so-so._

_“So it’s about a girl?”_

_I nod again._

_“Is she in our grade?”_

_“It’s about bitchy skank!” I blurt. Megan gasps._

_“What did the bitch do this time?” We’ve had our suspicions. Memories of what I witnessed twenty minutes ago play through my mind. I shudder, trying to rid of them._

_“I walked in on her cheating on my brother!” She hurriedly grabs the nearest pillow and I, and most of the house, hear a muffled scream. Right then my door bursts open and Lauren is standing in the doorway._

_“I heard Megan screaming?”_

_“OH MY GOD,” I grab the pillow she used and hurl it at her. Yes, right in the head!_

_“Ow.” She says dramatically._

_“Tell me again why I hangout with you guys?” Lauren sniggers._

_“Cause you haven’t left us yet.”_

_She nods her head in agreement. “What I wanted to say to her myself, was that, um, I had just horribly saw… bitchy skank… making out with another guy that is not my brother.” I said that last part fast, just to get it over with and before I could change my mind._

_Her eyes grow huge. “What? Really?” I nod my head nervously, unknown whether I was choosing to believe it or not. Lauren sat down on the other side of me._

_“Would she go to jail?” Megan wonders out loud, clearly rooting for the idea._

_“I normally don’t hate people I don’t know, like, personally, but yeah, she’s a bitch.” Lauren says._

_“Well, honestly, I don’t like her, at all, but I don’t if she would… I don’t know.” I tell them truthfully._

_A comfortable silence falls upon us. I glance between my two closets friends, expecting one of them to say something. As she does quite often, Megan silently creeps towards Lauren from the side. I’m not good at math, but I can tell she gets within an inch of Lauren’s face. I’m stunned she hasn’t noticed her yet. With her eyes big and eerie, Megan opens her mouth and whispers in a very creepy manner, “Hi...” Lauren whips her head around in surprise._

_“3…2…1…” I say to myself. When I say one, Lauren has shoved Megan away from her and starts her yelling. “Ugh, stop that!” She moves her arms in circular fashion around herself. “You may not have one, but I have a personal bubble! And stay out of it!” Megan smiles triumphantly at her, but quiets down._

**_[End Flashback]_ **

**_{More of April’s POV}_ **

“…I told my brother later that day and at first he was very angry, and he immediately broke up with her. For the next month my brother was depressed, I mean he was going to marry her. Eventually we sent him to see a therapist, Dr. Katelyn. She didn’t like being called her last name. My brother went once a week, and one thing led to another, John is now her fiancé.” I conclude.

“So, bitchy skank was the girl in the café?” Liam asks. I nod in response.

“Technically, her name _is_ Brianna.” I say. Out of nowhere a one of our phones start to ring.

“Is it yours?” We ask each other nearly at the same time. We discover its Liam’s a moment later when he gets his phone out.

“Oh. I got a text from my friend, Niall. I got to go.”

“You have a friend named Niall?” I ask. He nods.

“What, now you’re going to tell me you’re in a band with him along with Louis, Zayn, and Harry.” He nods in response.

“Oh my god really?” Yet another nod, this one Liam has a look of what? Nervousness?

“Can I have your number?” He requests, changing the subject.

“If I can have yours.” I say smiling flirtatiously. He returns the smile as we both trade phones. I enter my name and number into his phone, while he does the same in mine.

We hand the small mobile devices back to their owner and I take a glance at what he put in. I look at his number, trying to start to memorize it, and then look at his name, making me gasp and my eyes grow big.

_Name: Liam Payne_

I do a double take looking at his name cause there can’t be that many Liam Payne’s on Earth. Not to mention Liam Payne’s that are British and are 20 years old. My mouth drops as my brain finally kicks into gear and puts it all together.

I inhale in a lot of air in one breath and before I could exhale a hand covers my mouth. So I breathe out my nose onto the preventing hand, which was larger than I expected, might I just add. Some passer-bys give us weird glances. I don’t blame them.

“Are you okay now? You won’t scream or attract any attention?” He inquires as a precaution. I nod awkwardly with his hand placed firmly on my mouth. Hmm, I wonder what his lips would feel like?

We both suddenly remember Liam’s text. “Oh, yeah. So, I gotta go do… ya know. So, uh, bye! Maybe I’ll see you again soon.” He lifts his hand as he starts to move away from me and flicks it to the side to imitate a small wave. I lift my own hand in the air and wave back to him, over the heads of people starting to fill in the increasing space between us.

Fuck jogging, you know what fuck exercise in general, cause I just met Liam Payne.


	18. Chapter 18

**{Lauren‘s POV}**

The early morning sun is making its slow ascent into the cloudy winter sky. I have already done my morning routine (shower, change, breakfast, makeup, etc., etc.) with nothing to do now. I plop myself down on the couch, and turn on the small vintage TV set, subconsciously ignoring the small crack in the top right corner of the static glass screen.

“…Slightly cloudy, but that should clear away by noon, presenting perfect conditions to go do some Christmas present shopping.” Everything stops, evening my breathing and thinking, as at my horror I realize that we have done nothing for Christmas, or at least I haven’t.

“Megan!” I yell. “Get your sleeping ass in here!” I wait to hear sounds of bumping around in her room, which were followed by a loud groan or sigh. Finally she came into sight, looking like she woke at some ungodly hour, was chased by a horde of angry bulls, then got caught in a tornado, which then deposited her figure in the middle of a 1980’s rock concert (which I can assure you is NOT pretty. Look at your own risk). No exaggeration. Okay, well maybe a little, but omg, what is with her hair?

“Are you going to stare at me like a prev, or is there an actual reason for me to be here?”

“Oh, right. Have you gone Christmas shopping at all this year?”

Her face shifts and she glances around the room, something she sometimes does when thinking. “Nnnoooo.” She drags out. “Why?”

“I don’t know, maybe because Christmas is just FOUR DAYS AWAY!”

Megan blinks in surprise and nearly completely wakes up from sudden loudness. She raises her hand and physically whacks herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand. “Oh my god, I’m stupid.”

I tilt my head to give her a stern look. “No. You’re not.” She looks at me with a facial expression that says are-you-kidding-me and please-stop.

“Come on, it’s nearly Christmas, and I didn’t even notice. Are you sure I’m not stupid?”

I‘m about to say something about how she isn’t, but, “Well, maybe a little.”

“So, are you doing anything today?”

“No. Why, you think we should go shopping?” I say, a devious smile forming as a talk, Megan matching me.

“Yep.”

***~***

“Nope. No way. I’m leaving.” We just spent the last ten minutes driving around the parking lot through rows and rows of cars until at last we found a spot the farthest away from the large building. Now we stand at the entrance, a step in front of the sliding glass doors, looking wide-eyed at the amount of people rushing about, resembling a frantic inferno of crazy.

She turns to leave, but I grab her arm and spin her back around, switching my hold on her arm. ”Come on, we have to do this.” After mentally preparing herself, she nods, reluctantly agreeing.

We take three steps and already some pushing/shoving action happens, but mildly. I keep my tight grip on Megan’s arm, not to prevent her from leaving anymore, but so we stay together. We duck into the first store we come across.

The interior is dark, displaying violent and confusing shirts. The store is definitely Hot Topic. My shopping partner shrinks several centimeters in fright. “Oh come on, it’s not that bad.” I say to her.

That’s when I hear her gasp. I look to her to see that she is staring at the wall. I follow her gaze and what I see makes me gasp as well. There, hanging on the wall was the most precious thing, a robe, with the TARDIS on it. A TARDIS robe. Not only that, but the material looks so soft.

“Are you looking at what I’m looking at?” She asks me. I simply nod, speechless.

“I am so getting that.”

“Me too.”

“Can that be your Christmas present from me?” Megan asks.

“If that can be my present to you.” I respond.

“Okay, deal.”

We politely ask a lady showing off her tattoo sleeves in a dark tank to take down two of the robes, to determine which size we are.

After figuring that out, we cautiously step out of the store and into the fray, this time linking our arms at the elbow as to have a more secure lock on each other. We get pushed around some more, until we see the overly large sign for Macy’s and hurry inside.

Honestly, inside this store wasn’t much different then where we just were outside of it, but every bit helps. Nearly having it figured out how to move without getting jostled so much, we stay together as we walk around the store looking for appropriate gifts to give.

We pass by a glass counter when something pink catches my eye. Oh my god they have it. They have, “That Moment” perfume. I drag Megan to the glass counter, and together we stare in awe at it.

“I think we have just found April’s present.” Megan says to me. I nod,

“How much is the smallest bottle?” I whisper back.

“Umm…” We look around for a price tag.

“Excuse me, much is That Moment?” I ask a lady behind the glass counter who turns to us when I speak.

“We have three sizes; the 100mL is £42, the 50mL is £39, and the smallest bottle is 30mL and that is priced at £29.”

“Okay, we will like to buy the 30mL bottle, please.”

She reaches beneath the counter and selects one of the tiny rose bottles. I hand her my credit card and she swipes it through the scanner, handing it back afterward. We thank her and grab the tiny plastic bag with the box containing the precious perfume and hurry out of the store.

“Do we have yet to buy a present for some one?” Megan asks.

“I don’t think so… Should we buy a present for the boys?”

“The boys? Who’s ‘the boys’?”

“I mean Harry and Zayn and them.”

“I don’t know. What would we get them?”

“Well, boys like video games right? We could buy them a few.” I suggest. She agrees and we decide it best to leave the mall and buy them at a video game store where they hope it’s not so congested.

There’s one that is near where we live, Megan has visited there several times to buy some of her nerdy games. On our way home we stop by the store.

The door to our apartment closes with a semi-loud bang, shutting out the freezing weather that is currently molesting London and roaming the halls of their building. We each set down several bags of gifts, sighing in relief of the weight from the stress of Christmas present shopping and being in the comfort of home once more.

“Glad that’s over,” I say, fatigued.

"Agreed."

We decide to completely finish presents so while I get wrapping paper and tape, Megan brings the colored bags into the center of the living room.

When I come back we start unpacking, separating what we pull out into two different groups. Okay so maybe we didn't just get presents and some time during our trip we stopped by a few stores and bought a few more things for ourselves.

We take the items that were not going to be presents to our rooms and come back with wrapping paper, tape, scissors, etc. that are required for wrapping gifts.

Once we finish there is wrapping paper, tape, boxes, and bags scattered throughout the area around us. We store them in a small closet in our hallway. We spend the rest of the day studying for our individual university classes.


	19. Chapter 19

**{Lauren's POV}**

Over the next few days we set up a miniature Christmas tree (about shoulder height) and decorate it with multicolored baubles. On Christmas Eve Harry invited both of us to come to a Christmas party. On Christmas morning we opened the gifts we got for each other, which we knew were the robes.

It had snowed the night before, blanketing the city in fresh snow, at least until traffic turns it to dark mush. Also during the break, we were invited to a Christmas party at Liam’s.

TO REMAIN UNFINISHED


	20. Christmas Special

**{April's POV}**

A shiny red blur flies inches from causing a horrible bruise to the side of my head. Laughing and playful teasing fill my ears and I just can't seem to yell at them, especially today. The blur of red was a present, which narrows it down to birthday or Christmas. Well, for one of the guests it's both, but for the rest of us it's the latter. Another airborne package comes my way, but this time it doesn't miss.

"Ow!" I exclaim, lifting my hand to rub the hurt area. Within seconds my long-time boyfriend is at my side with his arm around my waist and is kissing my head all over, mumbling apologies between them. I no longer feel the pain, and smile fondly up at him. "Thank you, I feel much better now."

He smiles back at me and nods his head in acknowledgement, a slight rosiness appears on his cheeks as he sees everyone staring at us.

"What are you looking at?" I snap at them. "None of you are any different with your lovers." Most of them glance away blushing, while one just smiles proudly in a way of her own, it also kind of makes her seem more like a kid. The people spread out around the fair-sized living room form small groups, talking about a range of subjects.

My boyfriend and I stand there and take in the scene before us. The large Christmas tree, adorned with ornaments of every size, shape, and color and small bright luminosities twisted among the branches, making it that much more of a hassle when we put it up. The walls covered in decorations until only little spots of the original color remain to be seen.

I observe Louis and Eleanor's matching ugly sweaters, briefly thinking about how their cuteness makes the sweaters seem not so ugly and actually cuter.

My gaze sweeps to Megan and Niall, curled up together on the floor with their backs against the couch. I take in Megan's bright green bikini underneath a white cover-up, which is peaking out from her navy jacket. Then to top it off, black yoga pants cover her legs, and short shorts lay overtop. I shake my head, wondering what the fuck she was thinking when she decided to wear something like that in the middle of winter, and with nearly a foot of snow on the ground.

Speaking of snow...

I look out the window and at first all I see is the dark of night, but as I look closer, I see tiny white flecks drifting downwards, reflecting the light projecting from the inside.

A gentle shake brings me back to the warm interior. I look up questionably at the boy at my side. "Lauren called us to dinner." I glance around the room to notice it empty. When did this happen?

He leads me across the hall to the dinning room, which was decorated as well, just not as enthusiastically, a single large wreath hanging from one of the dark red walls. As I walk into the room, the smell of fresh cooking invades my senses. For a moment all I can think about is that smell and the source of it. I blink and my eyes stay close a moment longer than necessary. I sit down in one of the two side-by-side vacant seats saved for my boyfriend and I.

Two tables had been pushed together to form one long table with barely enough seating to fit all our guests. There were empty seats next Harry, Zayn, and Tyler where I presume their wives, or fiancé in Tyler's case, are sitting but are currently in the kitchen doing last minute food preparation. I know I should be in there helping but I'm not for two reasons: I can't cook, and with only three people in there it's already slightly crowded.

I look down the table to discover to what the three girl-less boys who occupy the chairs at that end of the table are talking about. "...She's been doing great! I mean this is all so extraordinary I just can't believe this is actually going to happen..." Zayn trails off emphasizing the effect of wonder and awe.

I open my mouth to comment when the door to the kitchen opens with a bang. At first all I see is a giant silver bowl filled to the top with a pink goop that has small red chunks mixed in. Then as the bowl comes closer I see Danielle behind it. She carefully places it at the far side of the table when another large serving dish floats in. This time it's Lauren carrying the dish. Then lastly came Perrie. I know at first sight it is she. Not because the other two had come before her, it's because under the platter was a large protruding protuberance.

I note that since the last time I saw her, about five weeks ago (?), she has grown noticeably bigger. The kitchen girls take their seats next to their males. "Shall we say grace?" Lauren asks, raising her hands palm-upward suggesting to the two people on either side of her to take them in their own.

24 hands come to together to make a long oval of arms, accepting Lauren's offer. She and Megan make eye contact, deciding who is going to start using facial expressions. Megan sighs and slumps her shoulders. "Bless us Oh Lord..."

Everyone that knows the prayers joins her, "...and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive, from thy bounty, through Christ Our Lord. Amen." Around the table hands drop, except a few, which still hold on together underneath the table. The scraping of silverware fills the ears of the humanoids.

Only a few bites had been eaten when the doorbell rings. I look questioningly at my aficionada. "Have we've been expecting anyone else?"

"I don't think so." He says as he stands up and leaves to answer the door. The other guests keep conversing obliviously. Faintly, I hear the door open amongst the dining sounds. I hear him laugh and the surprise guest kind of chuckle. I hear the sound of two males chatting as they approach the dining room.

When they are a step and stones throw away I recognize who it is and gasp audibly. My chair falls over I stand up so quickly and speed walk out of the room right into a solid chest. When I take a step back the face comes into view, and I can't help the squeal of excitement that makes me that much happier.

Oh my fucking God, Ryan fucking Reynolds is right fucking in front of me. Fuckityfuckfuckfuck. "Hi." Says the sex god standing right in front of me and omg his voice is so sexy and deep and sexy and.... Sexy. My eyes trial down to his chest and omg I bet he has a 6-pack and I wanna feel that 6-pack, I wanna lick that 6-pack. My eyes trail a little lower omg that bulge. With a bulge like that he has to be big. OMG what if we snuck off....

The snap of someone's fingers inches from my face brings me back out of my steamy fantasy to reality. I blink rapidly. "S-sorry. Z-zoned out for a s-second." I gulp loudly; hoping neither of them knows what I was just daydreaming about.

"Hi." He tries again. I open my mouth to say something but chicken out and just nod my head. I lead them into the dining room and immediately everyone stops what they were doing to look at us, waiting for one of us to talk, or just too stunned. I clear my throat.

"This is Ryan Reynolds. I think most of you know him." A chorus of "hi"'s echo back along with some waving. He goes to the far end of the table and kneels down. My hubby appears a moment later carry a foldout chair.

We eat our way through the meal and even when all thirteen (fourteen counting the fetus) stomachs feel like they were going to burst there is still enough leftovers to feed the two of us for a couple of days.

As I stand up to help with the cleaning crew (Eleanor, Megan, and I who did not cook) I notice Ryan and my boy whispering to each other fervently out-of-range of my hearing and every so often one of them would glance my way.

While the three of us cleaned everything and put it away, everyone else wandered into the living room to watch a Christmas movie of some sort. Once we finish, we to go into the living room. I notice my significant other standing in to corner and I fly to his side, burying myself into his masculine chest.

About halfway into the movie I feel him move beside me as he pulls out a remote. He pauses the movie and movie watchers turn to him disgruntled. He grabs my hand and gently pulls me into the center of the ring of people, in front of the TV.

"My dearest April," He begins. "You may not remember but it was today, several years ago, that we shared our first kiss."

What?

"From then on I knew that I was falling hard for you. Some 69.2% of the times I just look at you, I smile involuntary. The other 30.8 are because my lips are otherwise "occupied"." The crowd of people who understood chuckled. His mouth opens and closes, trying to find something else to say. "Uh, so then..." My eyes bulge and tears stream down my face as it all clicks. I reach out and grab his face, pushing my lips against his somewhat hard. When we pull away I blush. "Sorry, continue."

"April Vanessa Lohman," He gets down on one knee and I feel so overwhelmed with emotions that I think I may faint. "Will you marry me?" It's then when I see the small navy box, containing a small band of gold, and sparkly diamond on top. Wow, what a rock. I attentively reach out a pick it up between my pointer finger and thumb. I hand it out to him and he looks heartbroken. I then offer my left hand with my index finger raised. "Yes."

I can't help the smile that matches on both our faces as he slides the ring onto my finger. Our lips smash together again. This time slow and gentle, expressing our feelings for each other. When we break apart for air he whispers, "I love you April." I say back,

"I love you, Liam."


End file.
